Salaries in the UK rose by 3% in July compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from the UK’s job site CV-Library.

According to the figures, key areas for salary growth were seen in the retail, legal and finance sectors, where salaries increased by 8%, 7.2% and 6.9% respectively. In terms of regional growth, cities in the North saw the highest increase in salaries, including Leeds (9.3%), Sheffield (7.5%) and Manchester (5.1%).

“The rise in salaries across the UK is a positive indication that businesses are pushing hard to attract the very best candidates and are not allowing pay to stagnate in the face of post-Brexit uncertainty,” Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said. “For job hunters, it is reassuring that organisations are recognising the need to make the right offerings, particularly as competition for talent is rife. At the same time, it’s positive to see that candidate appetite is still strong, with CV registrations continuing to grow.”

The data also reveals a decrease in job postings, which dropped by 4.2% in July, though the company says that this is not unusual for this time of year, as recruitment tends to see a summer slowdown.

“It would be all too easy to attribute the reductions in job postings and applications to June’s Brexit news,” Biggins said. “However, this would be an unfair assessment as it’s still far too early to tell exactly what impact it will have on the UK’s labour market. More likely is the fact that the summer months tend to be a quieter time of year for recruitment, as people take holidays and time away from the office.”

“We always expected to see a small drop in July due to the fact that the recruitment sector experienced a particularly strong summer last year,” Biggins said. “Therefore, a slight reduction in jobs year on year isn’t too surprising as it was always unlikely that 2015’s high levels would be maintained. As a result, employers and candidates should rest assured that the UK’s job market is still thriving and we expect to see some of these figures pick back up as the summer months draw to a close.”