Average UK salaries fall to lowest in nearly 18 months, survey shows

RA Now

Despite month-on-month growth in jobs figures from the Office for National Statistics, the average advertised salary across the UK has fallen to a sixteen month low, research suggests.

Pay plummeted by 4.1% in the last year to £32,323 in December 2013, according to jobs search engine Adzuna’s Jobs Report.

This equals a drop in wages of £2,136 in real terms, and marks the third consecutive month in which advertised salaries have fallen, the figures show.

Every UK region apart from Wales has seen annual advertised pay decline during the 12 months to December. The East of England and the West Midlands have borne the brunt of the fall, with the average salary dropping 8.4% and 6.9% respectively in these regions. But salaries in Wales have risen 4.1% over the twelve months to December, reaching an average of £28,121, and are now at their highest point since August 2012.

Nine of the top ten cities to find a job were in the south of the UK, and seven of the worst ten cities to find a job are still based in the north. Cambridge was the best city in the UK to find a job in December, with just 0.22 jobseekers per vacancy. Finding a job in Cambridge is almost 100 times easier than it is to get a job in Salford, the second most difficult city in the UK to find a job, with 20.54 jobseekers per vacancy.

That said, there are some good signs of improvements for some corners of the north. Wolverhampton may be the seventh worst city in the UK to find a job, but competition for vacancies in the city is falling rapidly, and has in fact already dropped 38% over the last six months, bolstered by a strong service sector and growing manufacturing and engineering industries.

Likewise, in Sunderland – the fourth worst city to bag a job in the UK, and home to the UK’s vehicle production industry – competition for jobs has halved since July 2013.