UK wage growth has likely peaked but remains stronger than in the rest of Europe and the United States, the Indeed Wage Tracker has found.
The new data from the global hiring platform showed that posted wage growth dropped to 7% year-on-year in October, a 0.4% reduction from the 7.4% recorded in June.
According to Indeed, UK jobseekers can still achieve pay rises despite the reduction because there are now more job postings that include salary details, with October’s figures showing the share standing at 75%. It suggests that while salaries may not increase as fast in 2024 as they have this year, employers may need to advertise pay rates to attract talent in a competitive labour market.
The research also revealed that there could be a reduction in hybrid working arrangements, with the number of jobs advertising these terms dropping to 14.4% in October from the 16.3% reported in May. However, the percentage doing so is still more than three times as many as pre-pandemic levels.
While remote and hybrid working roles may be in decline, jobseekers are increasingly searching for these arrangements, with searches rising ten-fold since the pandemic but having dropped slightly from 3% early this year to 2.5% in October 2023.
In terms of other areas of flexibility, the data showed that the number of jobs advertising four-day working work week arrangements has increased, although the figure is low at 0.8%. The percentage rises to 1% for roles that are least remote-friendly, compared to 0.7% of adverts for positions that are highly remote and 0.5% for medium remote jobs. The sectors most likely to offer four-day arrangements include manufacturing, healthcare, food service and childcare.
Jack Kennedy, senior UK economist at Indeed, said: “There are already signs of employers becoming less inclined to accede to the preferences of workers. Hybrid working is one example, with many companies having made return-to-office mandates over the past year. However, jobseeker interest in hybrid and remote roles remains high, so offering location flexibility will remain a powerful attraction and retention tool, particularly for smaller companies looking to compete for top talent with larger competitors.
“Of course, not all jobs can be done remotely. Employers looking to recruit for in-person roles can offer other forms of flexibility, for example via a four-day work week. While the share of job postings mentioning four-day work week arrangements has been rising, this is still only offered by a small pool of employers, so presents another tool for businesses to attract and retain talent.”
