The UK job market showed signs of stabilisation in February 2025, with the number of active job postings holding steady compared to the previous month, according to the latest Labour Market Tracker from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and market analytics company Lightcast.
There were 1,550,191 active job postings in February 2025, marking a 0.1 percent increase from January 2025. New job postings totalled 681,898, a decrease of 10.8 percent from the previous month. This decline was expected, as January traditionally sees a hiring increase at the start of the year, while February is a shorter month that includes a school holiday period.
January 2025 had seen a stronger increase in job postings than usual, with overall active listings rising 7.2 percent compared to December 2024. That marked the first increase since June 2024, with February 2025 continuing a trend of modest growth in the UK job market.
Scotland saw the strongest growth in job postings, with West Dunbartonshire (24.7%), Argyll and Bute (23.5%) and East Lothian and Midlothian (20.1%) recording the highest increases. All of the top 10 counties for job posting growth were in Scotland. By contrast, Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton (-6.8%), Mid Ulster (-7.6%) and Central Bedfordshire (-13.7 percent) saw the sharpest declines.
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Hiring Trends Across Key Sectors
Construction job postings increased 4.7 percent in February 2025, following a 13.2 percent rise in December 2024. Rail construction and maintenance operatives saw the biggest increase at 20.3 percent, followed by stonemasons and related trades at 19.9 percent and plasterers at 16.5 percent.
The IT sector saw an overall decrease in job postings of 3.4 percent. Data entry administrator roles were the exception, rising 10.4 percent, following a 6.3 percent increase in January 2025. IT quality and testing professionals, IT project managers and data analysts recorded smaller declines of between 1.7 percent and 2.1 percent.
The administrative sector showed a 0.4 percent increase in job postings, with over 119,000 vacancies listed in February 2025. The highest increases were for communication operators (7.2%), national government administrative occupations (6.3%) and financial administrative occupations (5.5%).
The largest increases in job postings across all sectors were recorded for gardeners and landscape gardeners (33.1%), teaching professionals (22.7%) and rail construction and maintenance operatives (20.3%). The biggest declines were seen for veterinary nurses (-23.1 percent), delivery drivers and couriers (-30.1%) and train and tram drivers (-35.3%).
Industry Insights and Policy Considerations
Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of REC, noted that businesses were showing resilience despite ongoing economic challenges.
“Firms have been working hard to find growth in the face of rising costs since the Budget and it is reassuring that some are now feeling more ready to hire. Growing stability of demand will reassure recruiters and policymakers, given the challenging outlook for business on National Insurance hikes, wage increases, global political shifts and uncertainty about the future impact of the Employment Rights Bill,” Carberry said.
He pointed to the rise in construction job adverts as significant, given recent concerns about the sector’s strength. He also noted that hospitality job postings had increased, despite pressure on the industry – but added that businesses need government support to sustain hiring trends.
“The government must deliver a Spring Statement that is not only optimistic but also lays out a clear long-term growth strategy to unlock more of the latent demand for hiring and investment that we believe is out there. Achieving this requires working in partnership with business to close skills gaps, drive innovation and expand job opportunities. Government should deliver a great pitch and let business take care of the result,” he said.
While IT recruitment remains subdued, there were nearly 30,000 job postings for programmers and software development professionals and nearly 12,000 for IT business analysts, architects and systems designers.
