February saw a 14% decrease in jobs available, year-on-year in the UK while the number of professionals seeking jobs also fell by 35% during the same period, according to data from Morgan McKinley.

Hakan Enver, Managing Director, Morgan McKinley Financial Services, commented on the figures and highlighted Brexit’s impact, “Numerous factors are impacting this lack of desire from professionals to search for new opportunities. A small proportion are still waiting for bonus season, which typically falls at the end of the first quarter. Added to that, more and more EU nationals are returning back to their home nations, therefore, reducing the overall numbers of people searching in the London markets. Clearly there is a lack of confidence for some in securing a new role; nobody wants to be told that, three months into a new job, it may be relocated abroad.”

“Everyone’s tired of fretting about Brexit and just wants to get on with it, but there are still too many unanswered questions holding businesses back. This is evidently showing in both jobs coming to market and those applying to them” Enver said.

Morgan McKinley also published month-to-month figures which showed a 3% increase in jobs available, month-on-month, in February. Meanwhile, the research recorded a 20% decrease in professionals seeking jobs, month-on-month. Figures also showed a 13% average salary increase for professionals moving from one institution to another.

Separately, CV-Library figures showed that advertised salaries increased by 1.3% year-on-year. The Hospitality industry saw the biggest increase with a 6.5% hike in pay. CV-Library’s data also showed that job vacancies were up last month, rising by 7.7% year-on-year.