Average salaries in the UK rose by 1.9% in February when compared to the same period last year, according to job market data from CV-Library.

The data shows that UK salary growth is expanding slightly beyond the national inflation rate, which was sat at 1.8% during this period. Furthermore, some of the nation’s top industries experienced yearly salary growth, including automotive (up 9.1%), property (up 8.7%) and manufacturing (up 7.7%).

The job market also saw an increase in job postings when compared to February 2016, signalling that businesses are remaining confident. Job vacancies grew by 7.6% nationwide with the manufacturing (36%), charity (20.8%) and design (19%) sectors leading the way in terms of new job offerings.

“With businesses keen to attract only the best candidates to their roles, it’s positive to see that companies across the UK are pushing their salaries up in order to offer competitive pay packages to talented recruits,” Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said. “With more and more organisations putting out job adverts, competition to attract skilled workers is fierce. The offering of strong pay packages is clearly one tactic that companies are using in an effort to stay one step ahead of their competition.”

The data also showed that total candidate job applications fell by 3.5% when compared with February 2016, suggesting that despite the rise in salary and job offerings year-on-year, candidate appetite is not keeping pace.

“It’s unsurprising to see application rates dropping off after January; the mantra of ‘New Year, new me’ means that January is traditionally one of the busiest periods for recruiters, with job applications vastly increasing,” Biggins said. “The challenge for businesses now is to tap into this talent pool while it’s still available. As a result, we’re seeing increasingly fierce activity from companies, with job postings and salaries on the rise. All this bodes well for the candidates out there looking for their next move, with companies keen to bring in the best talent.”