The average advertised annual salary in the UK has exceeded £40,000 for the first time, according to research from jobs site Adzuna.

This increase in pay for advertised roles reflects strong demand for skilled workers, coupled with employer caution in hiring decisions.

Over the past year, the average advertised salary has risen from £37,577.

The study also revealed there are now two job seekers for every available position, with the average time to fill a vacancy increasing by nearly two days to 34 days.

Legal profession vacancies had the shortest average time to fill at 31 days, while roles in domestic help and cleaning took the longest at 38 days, followed closely by healthcare and nursing roles at 37 days.

Adzuna noted that over half of employers still do not include salary details in job adverts, with 2024 marked as the worst year on record for salary transparency.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, commented: “Job seekers hoping for sustained growth in available roles after November’s bounce will be disappointed, as vacancies dropped again in December.

“This decline may be due to the seasonal slowdown in hiring over the Christmas period.

“While sectors like teaching continue to post high numbers of vacancies, legal, logistics and warehouse, and sales roles have seen year-on-year growth.

“Despite reduced hiring activity overall, companies are offering higher pay, with the average advertised salary surpassing £40,000 for the first time since we began tracking the UK job market in 2016.”

The role of healthcare support worker has reclaimed its position as the most in-demand job on Adzuna’s list of trending roles.