Starting salaries advertised in the UK in May 2023 reached their highest level in nearly two years and vacancies rose for the fourth month in a row, reports Reuters, citing a survey by Adzuna. The job search site showed advertised salaries were the highest since April 2021 and had increased in every month since December last year, reaching £37,750 pounds in May. This represented a rise of 0.24% from April and approximately 3.3% when compared to the same period a year ago. Andrew Hunter, co-founder at Adzuna, said the figures signified resilience in the jobs market. Official labour market figures from the Officer for National Statistics last week showed stronger-than-expected wage growth in April.

Trends in Adzuna's advertised salaries differ from those collected by the ONS for average earnings across the workforce as a whole. Adzuna said overall online job adverts climbed 0.48% to about 1.051 million adverts last month, nearly a fifth lower compared to the same period last year and below the previous peak of about 1.065 million in December last year. The monthly survey also showed competition for jobs fell slightly in monthly terms but jobs were being filled faster.