Graduates leave into one of the toughest job markets for 7 years, despite increasing vacancies

The UK job market continued to show resilience in May as vacancies and salaries increased for the fourth consecutive month – but graduates are going to find it hard to secure their first role, according to the UK Job Market Report by smarter job search engine Adzuna.
May saw almost 5,000 more new vacancies go live than in April, with the total number of job postings across the UK sitting at 1.051 million – up +0.48% from last month. At the same time, average annual advertised salaries increased by +0.24% to £37,750.
The increases in March and April suggest the improving trend is holding steady, something official figures have recently begun to reflect. In April, vacancies across the UK were almost a fifth lower than they were during the same period last year, yet by May the year-on-year gap had shrunk to -16.8%.
Table 1: UK Vacancies, jobseekers per vacancies and advertised UK salary

May 2023
April 2023
Monthly
Change
Annual change from May 2022
UK Vacancies
1,050,930
1,045,949
+0.48%
-16.80%
Jobseekers per Vacancy
1.47
1.51
-0.04
+0.22 (from 1.25)
Av. Advertised UK Salary
£37,750
£37,658
+0.24%
+3.26%
Tough market for graduates
However, the market continues to be tough for graduates, most of whom will finish their courses now and be looking to join the workforce over the coming months.
Graduate roles started 2023 at -8.3% down in December and this figure has continued falling, month-on-month, to the point where there has been a total -20.8% drop in vacancies for university leavers over the past five months. Year-on-year, the number of advertised graduate vacancies (12,983) is -11.6% lower than in May 2022 (14,690). The available graduate roles are taking almost 40 days to fill, on average – among the longest of any sector. This could be because there is less urgency among employers to fill graduate roles as they know there are lots of candidates out there, whilst more applications per role can mean a higher workload for employers to process applications to find the best candidates.
Competition for grad jobs is particularly tight this year. With around 570,000 UK students set to graduate this year according to figures from HESA, around 44 graduates will be vying for every available opportunity in summer 2023, up from 36 graduates per role a year ago.
On the plus side, average annual graduate salaries have been steadily increasing over the past 12 months. In May, this figure hit £27,802 – up +0.49% on April, but up +6.62% compared to this time last year.
Widespread signs of growth
Elsewhere, there were positive signs across many of the individual sectors analysed by Adzuna, reversing declines seen in three-quarters of sectors (77%) in April.
By May, vacancies remained steady or had increased across a quarter of sectors with the biggest month-on-month rise being seen across Travel (+7.38%), ahead of the summer season. Hospitality and Catering jobs continued to grow by +4.61%, with 76,441 advertised vacancies available in May, +10.97% higher than the 68,886 seen three months ago.
However, after months of increases, jobs in the Energy, Oil and Gas sector, as well as Nursing roles declined by -1.2% and -1.1% respectively in May. In the case of nursing, this was the first decline since February. Elsewhere, IT roles continued to fall (-4.5%), as did vacancies in Logistics and warehouse (-3.9%), HR and Recruitment (-3.17%) and Graduate roles (-1.86%).
Salaries increasing
May saw average advertised salaries take another step closer to the highest level since Adzuna records began. At £37,750, salaries haven’t been this high since the start of 2021 and mark a +3.26% increase compared to this time last year.
Sector-wise, the biggest annual increase in advertised salaries in May was seen in Social Work jobs (up +21.6%), followed by last month’s leader, Healthcare and Nursing (up +15.7%), and Property jobs (up +15.04%). Sales jobs saw the largest annual fall in salary in May, down -4.5%, followed by IT jobs (-3.74%) and HR and Recruitment (-3.24%).
For the fourth month, Northern Ireland had the highest year-on-year average advertised salary increase of any region, up +9.4%.
After months of sitting in second place, Yorkshire and the Humber saw a monthly drop in average salaries. Its annual increase also shrunk to +8.01% in comparison to +8.8% in April. This has seen Wales, where average annual salaries increased by +8.3% in May, leapfrog to second place, whilst Eastern England saw the lowest increase, up +4.46%.

If we look closer at the average salaries of the key cities within these regions, it’s clear that Northern Ireland’s dominance comes off the back of another strong month for Belfast. Salaries across the capital increased by +9.07%.
This wasn’t enough to beat Leeds, however, where advertised salaries continued to grow at the highest level, rising by +12.95% in May, followed by Bedford (+11.12%). Such is Leeds’ salary strength, its annual average now sits alongside Cambridge and Oxford, some of the cities with the highest average salaries outside of London.
After falling last month, salaries in Maidstone and Crawley both saw a resurgence in May, rising +0.33% and +2.1% respectively. Some of the UK’s main cities saw annual salary declines – London (-2.11%), Reading (-5.06%), Cambridge (-6.21%), Oxford (-22.11%) and Manchester (-36.03%).

Although salaries were up across the board, year-on-year, several regions saw monthly dips in May, compared to April. Advertised salaries in Luton dropped by £495, month-on-month, whilst in Belfast, they were £404 lower, and down £307 in Chelmsford.
The best areas to look for work
Despite the continued drop in salaries, Cambridge remains the best place to get a job in the UK, with more than 9,000 advertised roles and around 0.26 jobseekers per vacancy. The average advertised salary is still second only to London and on par with Leeds. Other areas with low competition for jobs include Guildford (0.35), Exeter (0.43) and Oxford (0.55).
By comparison, the area with the highest competition for roles is Bradford, with 5.5 jobseekers per vacancy, followed by Middlesborough at 3.96.
Competition falling
Across the country, the number of jobseekers for each vacancy in May was 1.47 people for every role, compared to 1.51 in April. At the same time, roles are being filled faster than at any time since 2016 with employers taking on average just 34.9 days to fill positions across the UK – the lowest level on record. This has been falling, month-on-month, since June last year.
Voluntary job vacancies take the least time to fill – just 27.5 days – followed by Logistics & Warehouse (30.4 days), and Teaching roles (30.7 days). On the opposite end, PR, Advertising and Marketing roles take 43.2 days to fill, per role, followed by Travel on 40.8 days.
Elsewhere, the number of job ads giving salary information fell by 0.6 percentage points in May (50.9%) compared to April (51.5%).
Social care is trending
For the second month in a row, data from Adzuna’s Intelligence Portal shows that more jobseekers were viewing roles in Social Care than any other sector, followed by warehouse workers and lorry drivers. There has also been an increase in demand for delivery driver roles, compared to April, and project manager positions.
This metric tracks demand for a wide range of occupations and designates an Interest Quotient for each role. The higher the quotient, the more in demand those roles are among Adzuna jobseekers.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder at Adzuna, said: “Continuing its upward trajectory, the UK job market remains resilient, with another month of increasing vacancies and rising salaries. While the growth may be modest, compared to previous months, it still signifies a steady trend and a new peak for 2023, helping to narrow the gap from last year. However, challenges persist for graduates, facing a tough market with decreasing vacancies. Amidst these dynamics, competition for jobs is intensifying, and roles are being filled faster than ever before. Adaptability and strategic choices are key to navigating the evolving landscape.”
Adzuna’s monthly UK Job Market Report provides the most up-to-date snapshot of employment opportunities across the country, based on every job vacancy advertised online in the UK from over 1,000 sources, across all UK regions. Adzuna also supplies real-time data to the Number 10 Dashboard, the Cabinet Office and the Office for National Statistics labour market indices. More granular data breakdowns at a local authority, job title, or skill level, are available via Adzuna Intelligence.