Average advertised salaries in the UK in December 2018 hit their highest point since April 2015, having risen 3.9% year-on-year to over £34,000, according to the latest Job Market Report from job search engine Adzuna. However, advertised vacancies also hit its lowest level since 2015, falling 2.9% in December 2018 when compared to the previous year.

Among sectors, teaching jobs saw the biggest increase in salaries with a 14.4% rise in January when compared to last year. This was followed by legal jobs (7.8%) and IT jobs (5.0%).

Meanwhile, the retail sector saw the largest fall in average advertised salaries with a decrease of 5.9% in January when compared to last year.

“With salaries at their highest and vacancies at their lowest for four years, there may be room for cautious optimism at the moment,” Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna said. “However, one sector where the picture is not rosy is retail, where workers are feeling the pinch.”

Among regions, Wales was the only UK region that saw a decrease in its average advertised salary in the last year (-0.5%). In comparison, South West England saw the biggest increase with an 8.2% hike.

Adzuna’s data also showed the best and worst cities to find a job with Swindon ranking at the top with 0.04 jobseekers per vacancy. On the other end, Hull ranked as the worst city to find a job with 3.25 jobseekers per vacancy.