The number of new job postings in the UK increased in January by 27.9% when compared to December 2023, according to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation and Lightcast Labour Market Tracker.

Overall, there were 873,169 new job postings in January 2024 which means the total number of active job postings in January 2024 was 1,813,663, a 4.2% increase from December 2023.

REC Deputy Chief Executive Kate Shoesmith said, “We have started 2024 with a slight bounce back in demand for workers in some white collar and blue-collar jobs, after a subdued finish to 2023. This calming is only to be expected after the red-hot labour market as we came out of the pandemic, and activity today remains relatively high by comparison to the pre-pandemic period in some sectors.”

Occupations with notable increases in adverts in January 2024 include quality control and planning engineers (68.9%), childminders (55.8%) and probation officers (52.1%). There was also growing demand for visual merchandisers and related occupations (37.0%), vehicle valeters and cleaners (33.6%) and animal care services occupations (27.8%). 

Meanwhile, grey-collar roles such as prison service officers, below principal officer (-39.4%), driving instructors (-37.0%) and postal workers, mail sorters, messengers and couriers (-29.3%) all showed the largest decline in roles from December 2023 to January 2024.

Across the UK, Tower Hamlets (20.3%), Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (19.4%) and Newry, Mourne and Down (14.3%) had the highest growth in job postings when compared to December 2023. Westminster (-15.0%), Dumfries and Galloway (-9.4%) and West Dunbartonshire (-8.6%) all accounted for the sharpest decline in job postings.

When looking at the top ten counties/unitary authorities for growth in active job postings, four were based in Northern Ireland. This paints a more positive picture than last month, where low growth was mostly contained in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

For the second month in a row, Tower Hamlets saw the highest growth in active job postings in the UK. Of the bottom ten areas with the lowest growth in active job postings, six were in Scotland. This is similar to the previous month, where similarly five of the bottom ten were in Scotland.