Britain’s labour market deteriorated further last month as advertised job vacancies fell sharply but salaries rose, job search website Adzuna said on Monday, underscoring the dilemma facing the Bank of England.
Online job adverts fell by 15.2% in the 12 months to November – the biggest such drop so far in 2025 – and were down by 6.4% from October, the fifth such fall in a row.
British employers turned more wary about hiring after the introduction of higher social security contributions in April in finance minister Rachel Reeves first budget last year.
Worries about possible further tax increases in her second budget in late November have also weighed on the jobs market, contributing to a rise in Britain’s unemployment rate to 5.1% in the three months to October, the highest since 2021.
But Adzuna said advertised salaries rose by 7.7% from a year earlier with big increases in IT and only two sectors showing a fall in pay, compared with 7.3% a month previously.
The BoE last week cut interest rates after a weakening of the economy but showed it remained worried about inflation.
(Writing by William Schomberg, editing by Andy Bruce)
