A new study from job search engine Adzuna.co.uk has shown that 21,000 Christmas jobs are still available in the UK, marking a 24% increase in the number of festive roles since last year.

Adzuna states that the major high street and online retailers are stocking up on extra staff this winter, leading to thousands of temporary, part-time roles flooding the market.  Average pay for these roles is in decline, however, with advertised pay for seasonal workers falling from £11.50 per hour in 2015 to £9.32 this Christmas.

“With a wealth of negative news hitting the job market in 2016, this boost in festive vacancies is sure to put a smile on the faces of British jobseekers,” Doug Monro, Co-Founder of Adzuna, said. “It’s not all good news, however, as average pay for festive workers looks set to drop significantly compared to last year, suggesting some top retail employers may be hiring more staff for entry level positions and cutting back on higher paid management roles.”

The largest proportion of this year’s vacancies fall in the retail, logistics and sales sectors. As of 20 October 2016 there are still over 4,000 retail job adverts live, 1,863 warehouse positions up for grabs, and 1,363 seasonal sales vacancies waiting to be filled around the country. Customer services experts and hospitality heroes are also very much in demand, with 1,302 and 1,280 positions respectively still being advertised.

London and the South East of England have more than a quarter (26%) of the available roles in the UK. The lowest number of Christmas jobs are located in Wales and Northern Ireland, with 2.4% of the vacancies based in these two regions.