The UK job market increased year-on-year growth for the second month in a row as seasonal sectors like Hospitality & Catering experience surging demand ahead of the summer holiday rush, according to the latest UK Job Market Report by job matching platform Adzuna.
New job openings remained up +1.02% compared to the same time last year, as average advertised salaries continued to climb, +8.94% to £42,278, the strongest annual growth since 2021.
However, monthly vacancies fell slightly, down -0.95% month-on-month to
862,876, showing there remains some volatility in UK hiring.
Healthcare & Nursing and Social Work continued to boost the jobs market in April, with postings rising +1.94% and +0.29% month-on-month, respectively. These sectors have now seen double-digit growth over the past six months. Meanwhile, the biggest monthly gains were seen across Logistics & Warehouse (+4.62%) and Hospitality & Catering (+5.6%).
Elsewhere, the average time it takes to fill job roles jumped to 39.5 days, up from 35.3 days in the previous month. At the same time, the number of jobseekers per vacancy rose slightly to 2.02, up from 2 in March.
After two months of increases in the number of job adverts listing salary details, salary transparency dipped down to 47.89% from its recent high of 48.62%. This means more than half of ads (52.11%) now don’t list wages in job descriptions.
April brought further momentum in a number of key sectors, offering cautious optimism to jobseekers across the UK. Hospitality & Catering (+5.6%), Logistics & Warehouse (+4.62%), Property (+2.32%), Healthcare & Nursing (+1.94%), Teaching (+1.71%), and Retail (+1.38%) each posted gains, underlining continued demand in care-related and consumer-facing industries.
However, not all sectors shared the growth. After plummeting -17.3% in March, Graduate roles fell a further -7.6% in April, marking a yearly decline of -22.8%. The sectors offering the biggest graduate openings in April are Customer Services (2,823 jobs), Teaching (2,664 jobs), IT (1,681 jobs), and Healthcare & Nursing (634 jobs).
Trade & Construction saw the largest monthly fall in vacancies (-15.18%), nevertheless, the sector recorded the strongest year-on-year growth (+49.75%) across all sectors.
Annually, eight other sectors saw increases, with Teaching (+37.24%), Social Work (+22.46%), and Legal (+16.88%) seeing the strongest growth. Other losses were felt across Retail (-39.4%), Energy, Oil & Gas (-33.65%), IT (-23.21%) and PR, Advertising & Marketing (-22.7%), which each saw the sharpest annual declines.
Since the Autumn budget announcement on National Insurance contributions increase in October 2024, several sectors experienced a sharp decline in job postings, with Retail vacancies down -38.99% alongside Logistics & Warehouse (-21.56%), and Scientific & QA (-16.62%). On the other hand, Trade and Construction and Healthcare & Nursing vacancies grew +37.68% and +20.63% compared to October 2024, respectively.
Salaries continued to rise across most sectors. Teaching led monthly wage growth at +2.74%, followed by Domestic Help & Cleaning (+1.39%). Annual pay growth remained strongest in Logistics & Warehouse (+20.41%), Maintenance (+16.86%), and Teaching (+13.81%). Only a handful of sectors saw month-on-month salary dips, including Travel (-5.4%) and Sales (-0.96%). Legal salaries fell -0.62% from last year, continuing the trend of annual declines in an otherwise high-paying profession.
In terms of hiring speed, Legal and Admin roles remain the quickest to fill, taking an average of just over 31 days. At the other end of the spectrum, roles in Energy, IT, and Consultancy continue to take the longest to secure new hires – often upwards of 38 days, highlighting ongoing challenges in sourcing specialist talent.
Northern Ireland posted the strongest annual salary growth at +12.38%, pushing the region’s average advertised pay to £40,472, though this may reflect a fall in the number of workers. That makes it one of six UK regions now offering average salaries above £40,000, after South East wages tipped over this threshold for the first time in April. London remains the highest-paying region at £48,635, followed by Eastern England (£40,853).
The number of jobseekers per vacancy declined across the majority of UK regions. Only London experienced a minor rise in jobseekers, with 2.29 people competing for each role.
Despite its strong pay growth, the South West continues to have the smallest jobseeker to vacancy ratio at only 1.36, followed by South East (1.42). In contrast, Northern Ireland had the most competitive market with 3.43 jobseekers per role, followed closely by the North East (3.33) and West Midlands (3.17).
Healthcare Support Worker topped Adzuna’s Trending Roles list for the fifth consecutive month in April. Warehouse Worker and Social Care Worker continued to be the second and third trending role. This ranking is based on the Interest Quotient, a metric that tracks how often job postings are viewed relative to other occupations. A higher quotient reflects a stronger interest among jobseekers.
Cleaner and Healthcare Assistant rounded out the top five, while Administrator and Assistant roles held steady in the middle of the pack – reflecting consistent interest in accessible admin and support positions. Retail Sales Adviser returned to the list in eighth place, while Sales Assistant and Delivery Driver completed the top 10.
Project Manager, which appeared in February and tied for tenth in March, has now dropped out of the rankings. The exit of white-collar roles like Project Manager and Software Developer – which previously made brief appearances – suggests jobseeker focus is shifting back toward frontline and entry-level roles across healthcare, retail, logistics, and support services. The appearance of customer-facing and entry-level roles in the top 10 suggests a growing appetite for stable, accessible jobs across sectors like retail and admin support.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said, “After signs of recovery in March, April brought a reminder that this remains a delicate job market. Vacancies dipped and salary growth, while still strong on an annual basis, is starting to show signs of slowing.
“That said, the broader trends are still heading in the right direction. We’ve now seen two consecutive months of annual vacancy growth – something we hadn’t experienced in over 18 months – and advertised pay is up almost 9% compared to this time last year, continuing to outpace inflation. Demand remains particularly high in healthcare, logistics, and teaching, and the strength of these sectors is helping stabilise the market overall. The recovery is real and we’re seeing progress, just not at full speed yet.”
