Review of the UK Jobs Market – March 2025

Welcome to our Review of the UK Jobs Market for March. Each month, we share market insight on the state of the UK jobs market.

You can either read our short blog, or see our infographic.

The main findings were:

• Hiring activity declines again in March
• Supply of labour rises at fastest pace in over four years
• Vacancies fell at softer, but still marked rate
• Pay trends remain historically subdued

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Staff Appointments

Recruitment agencies across the UK signalled a decline in temp billings for the ninth successive month in March. Though solid, the rate of contraction was the softest in 2025 to date. There were frequent reports that lower demand for staff amid reduced client activity and tighter hiring budgets had weighed on billings. There were also reports that some temp workers had moved to permanent positions.

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Vacancies

Vacancies decline at softest pace in five months

Demand for permanent staff fell for the nineteenth month in a row in March. The rate of decline was the softest seen since last October, albeit sharp overall. Temporary vacancies meanwhile fell at a rate that, though solid, was the slowest since last December.

The latest data from the ONS showed there were 816,000 vacancies aceoss the UK in he three months to February 2025, which was broadly unchanged from the figure recorded in the preceding three month period. The latest figure indicated that the number of open roles was almost 100,000 below that recorded during the same period a year ago (914,000 in the three months to February 2024).

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Staff Availability

Sharper rise in permanent candidate numbers

The supply of workers to fill permanent positions increased again in march, thereby stretching the current period od expansion to 25 months. Notably, the rate of growth picked up to the sharpest since the end of 2020. Anecdotal evidence indicated that were redundancies and fewer job opportunities were the principal drivers of higher staff supply.

Steepest increase in temp staff supply for five months

UK recruiters signalled a sustained rise in the availability of short-term staff at the end of the first quarter. Furthermore, the rate of growth edged up to the second-sharpest since December 2020. there were widespread reports that redundancies and weaker demand for staff had led to the greater availability of temp workers,

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Pay Pressures

There was an increase in starting pay for permanent staff for the forty-ninth month in a row in March. The rate of inflation picked up from February’s four-year low to a soldi pace that was the fastest since last August. Employers were willing to raise pay offers to secure suitably-skilled candidates.

Source: KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs 11th April 2025