"While it's not unusual to see a quarterly drop in vacancies at this time of year, particularly given that January and February are some of the busiest months in the hiring calendar, the annual dip does suggest that companies are holding back in their hiring efforts. Indeed, our own data reveals that job numbers fell by 4.5% in April, following the UK's failure to leave the EU on time back in March.
"At the same time, businesses are pushing up their pay packets in an attempt to entice more workers out of their current roles. In fact, we found that average salaries jumped up by 4.1% during this time and these efforts appear to be paying off, with application rates also rising by 8.6%. More people are in work than ever before and this is a positive milestone to shout about - particularly when it comes to female employment.
"That being said, we cannot ignore the fact that organisations are still struggling to recruit right now. Political uncertainty, skills shortages and general nervousness around the state of the UK economy is only leaving organisations feeling nervous about growing their teams."
