Permanent salaries advertised in the UK have stalled, according to new data released by leading recruiter Office Angels and mysalarychecker.com*. The statistics reveal a marginal decrease (-0.14%) in the average advertised salaries for all general staffing roles, compared to last month.
Continually high levels of unemployment mean that demand for roles is fierce across the board, and in some cases, this is putting pressure on salaries to reduce. Continued economic uncertainty, as evidenced by the double-dip recession, also means that businesses are striving to keep costs down wherever possible.
Despite all advertised salaries stalling month on month, certain roles have shown a particular increase or decrease since this time last year. PA and Office Manager roles have fared especially well, with average advertised salaries increasing 4.7% and 3.9% respectively, to reflect the increasingly wide skills range and additional responsibilities now associated with these roles.
Customer service roles, meanwhile, have suffered the most from the high level of available candidates and competition for roles, with average salaries decreasing by -7.1% year on year to just £16,905, one of the lowest average salaries in general staffing.
Steven Kirkpatrick, Managing Director at Office Angels, said, “These figures suggest that there is still uncertainty in the jobs market and we are not quite over the brow of the hill yet. With Britain re-entering the recession and unemployment figures still very high, especially amongst young people, a combination of strong competition for roles and a lack of spare cash within businesses means that increasing salaries is not a priority for many companies. Nevertheless, talented jobseekers can still be hard to find, and for the best in the market – those who can demonstrate the right skills and experience – salaries will continue to remain competitive.”