According to the latest quarterly Job Market Report from the UK’s leading independent job site, CV-Library, key UK regions and industries witnessed standout rises in salaries in Q4 2016, when comparing year-on-year data.
The report, which looked at fluctuations in jobs, applications and pay throughout the last quarter of 2016 (October, November and December), found that the following locations and sectors saw the biggest hikes in average salaries last quarter:
|
Regions |
Industries |
|
North West +14.2% |
Recruitment +17.5% |
|
Wales +6.8% |
Legal +8.7% |
|
East Midlands +3.9% |
Hospitality +6.7% |
|
North East +3.5% |
Property +5.7% |
|
Scotland +2.6% |
Accounting/Finance +4.8% |
Furthermore, key cities saw impressive growth when looking at quarter-on-quarter data, rising well above the national inflation rate (1.2% as of December 2016). In particular, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester saw the strongest growth, which is a nice indication that businesses across the nation are continuing to work hard to attract the very best talent, despite the latter months of the year being a quieter time for hiring. The top ten included:
City |
Average pay Q3 2016 |
Average pay Q4 2016 |
Percentage growth |
|
Cardiff |
£29,429 |
£33,819 |
+14.9% |
|
Edinburgh |
£30,160 |
£31,477 |
+4.4% |
|
Manchester |
£30,435 |
£31,606 |
+3.9% |
|
Bristol |
£31,823 |
£33,037 |
+3.8% |
|
Portsmouth |
£29,471 |
£30,243 |
+2.6% |
|
Liverpool |
£29,298 |
£30,017 |
+2.5% |
|
Brighton |
£28,908 |
£29,604 |
+2.4% |
|
Birmingham |
£31,687 |
£32,300 |
+1.9% |
|
Sheffield |
£29,418 |
£29,830 |
+1.4% |
|
Aberdeen |
£32,194 |
£32,589 |
+1.2% |
Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, comments on the findings: “It’s clear that widespreadskill shortages are pushing up salaries across the UK, which is good news for job hunters looking for a new role in the next few months. Businesses in these cities and sectors have clearly recognised the need to push up salaries ahead of the New Year rush in order to attract new recruits and it is hoped that we will see this strategy pay off in next quarter’s data.”
The report also reveals that jobs across the UK were up by an impressive 14.4% when comparing Q4 2016 data with Q4 2015. Many businesses across the UK have pushed hard to advertise their vacancies pre-January, especially in some of the key northern cities; including Hull, Manchester and Sheffield. These cities have continued to witness strong growth, while Scotland’s Glasgow and Edinburgh also kept pace.
Biggins concludes: “2016 was a turbulent year for the economy, but the fact that organisations are showing signs of investing in their current and future workforce is a positive indication for the labour market in 2017. We expect to see job and application figures pick up next quarter, as business and candidate confidence strengthens.”
