Pay Rise | Which UK locations have seen the biggest boost in pay this year?

Key cities around the UK have seen a huge boost in pay growth, which could be chilling news for businesses looking to hire this winter.

The latest job market data from CV-Library reveals that average salaries for new roles reached a 12-month high in November, soaring by a staggering 28.9% across the nation. Pay hike winners include Scotland, which has two cities in the top ten which have seen the biggest increase, and the North of England with several impressive gains when compared to November 2017.

1. Liverpool – salaries up by 11.9%

2. Glasgow – salaries up by 11.4%

3. Southampton – salaries up by 11.1%

4. Aberdeen – salaries up by ten per cent

5. Newcastle – salaries up by 8.1%

6. Birmingham – salaries up by 5.4%

7. Leicester – salaries up by 3.4%

8. London – salaries up by 2.7%

9. Brighton – salaries up by 2.1%

10. Leeds – salaries up by 1.8%

Lee Biggins, Founder and Managing Director of CV-Library says that this huge increase in salaries is a direct result of the struggles that UK businesses are currently facing. “Ongoing economic uncertainty, coupled with the growing skills gap, is making it difficult to entice candidates away from their current positions,” he says.

“As such, it’s clear from the data that organisations in some of the nation’s key cities are pulling out all the stops to secure the top talent.”

The researchers also found that employers are continuing to advertise their job vacancies ahead of the New Year, with the number of live job vacancies increasing by 8.7% in November, when comparing year-on-year data. However, candidates continue to remain cautious, with application rates dropping by 14.8% over the same period. 

“The data reveals that candidate confidence has taken a knock since this time last year and this could be the driving force behind last month’s jump in salaries,” Biggins adds. “It is, however, good to see that businesses are still advertising their vacancies.

And with many professionals adopting the ‘New Year, new me’ mantra in January - plus the impressive pay packets currently on offer - we expect to see application rates picking back up as we enter 2019.”