Advertised pay
£41,000.00
£39,385.21 in real terms (inflation-adjusted)
-1.8% vs Q3 2024
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Q3 2025 Jobs Market Report
Advertised pay fell 1.8% and hiring activity we tracked rose 54.2% compared with Q3 2024.
Hiring activity we tracked
97% permanent / 3% contract
+54.2% vs Q3 2024
vs Q2 2025
Pay +0.6%, hiring activity +38.4%
Hiring activity we tracked surged compared with a year ago, even as advertised permanent pay eased back slightly and the sector mix shifted markedly away from IT toward construction and accounting.
Permanent pay edges lower
-1.8%
Median advertised permanent pay slipped modestly against the comparison period, a mild pullback rather than a sharp correction. This kind of softening can reflect a mix shift toward lower-paying roles or employers moderating offers amid broader hiring caution, rather than a uniform pay cut across the board.
Tracked hiring activity surges
+54.2%
The volume of hiring activity we tracked rose sharply versus the comparison period, a substantial jump in scale. Such a large swing likely reflects a low base in the prior period as much as genuine demand growth, and is worth reading alongside the more modest pay movement above.
IT's dominant share erodes
+28.88%
IT remains by far the largest single sector in tracked hiring activity, but its share fell substantially compared with the prior period. A pullback of this size suggests hiring demand is broadening out to other sectors rather than concentrating further in tech roles.
Construction gains ground
+4.78 pts
Construction's share of tracked hiring activity climbed notably, one of the larger gains across all sectors this period. Paired with a similar rise in accounting's share, this points to a broadening of hiring demand beyond the IT-heavy pattern seen previously.
AI-titled roles remain a niche slice
+0.65%
Listings with an explicitly AI-related job title made up only a small fraction of tracked postings. Despite heavy attention on AI hiring, this suggests such roles are still a narrow niche within overall recruitment activity rather than a mainstream job category.
Sharp regional divergence in Redcar and Cleveland
-86.5%
Tracked hiring activity in Redcar and Cleveland fell steeply compared with the prior period, standing in stark contrast to the strong national uplift. This highlights how uneven the recovery in hiring activity has been across different parts of the UK, even as the overall picture looks positive.
Watch whether IT's share stabilises or keeps ceding ground to construction and accounting, and whether permanent pay finds a floor after this period's dip.
Sector movers
Change in each sector's share of the hiring activity we tracked, Q3 2024 to Q3 2025.
Growing
- Accounting+5.0% pts
- Construction+4.8% pts
- Finance+1.1% pts
Shrinking
- IT-8.3% pts
- Education-4.0% pts
- Healthcare-3.4% pts
Monthly trend
Within Q3 2025, hiring activity we tracked peaked in September 2025 (dark green below) and was quietest in July 2025 (dark red below).
Based on job listings and advertised salaries we track across the UK. Figures are indicative trends, not a full census of the UK jobs market.