Average UK advertised salaries have reached their highest figure since May 2016, improving 1.9% in December over the year, according to Adzuna’s latest UK Job Market Report.

The 1.9% improvement in the year to December means the average advertised wage was £32,940. However, while salaries are improving, the total number of advertised vacancies in the UK have decreased slightly by -0.8% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, the average number of jobseekers per vacancy has also fallen -11.1% in December when compared to the previous year.

“In recent months we’ve seen vacancies soar while salaries stumble, but we’re starting to see a reversal of this trend. We’ve witnessed a few false starts with salary improvements, but they are finally showing a solid growth trajectory that is worth paying attention to,” Doug Monro, Co-Founder of Adzuna, said. “Unfortunately those already in employment aren’t seeing the same improvements as we’ve seen in advertised roles, but this is usually just a matter of time. With average UK advertised salaries reaching their highest level since May 2016, those already in employment will be sorely tempted to move on if pay improvements don’t filter down to them quickly enough.”

Among the best-performing job sectors in the UK for the December 2017 period, Admin jobs ranked highest with a 27.2% increase in salary over the past year. This was followed by retail jobs (21.3%) and travel jobs (19.2%).

Social workers were among the hardest hit in terms of average advertised salaries. Typical advertised salaries within social work were down by 7.3% from December 2016; currently sitting at £26,233. Despite this, the total number of advertised vacancies within this sector is at 40,275. 

The best city to find a job in December 2017 was Cambridge with 0.05 jobseekers per vacancy, while the worst city was Sunderland with 2.53 jobseekers per vacancy, according to Adzuna.