There was a month-by-month increase in the number of new job postings in the UK in May 2025, new figures reveal.

The monthly labour market tracker from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and Lightcast revealed that there were 726,084 new job postings last month – up by 0.3% from April.

The overall number of active job postings was 1,440,792 – a decrease of 1.8% on the number of job postings in April as older adverts were pulled off websites.

When comparing regions, Scotland (9.2%) and south-west England (4.7%) showed the highest increase in the total number of job postings.

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REC chief executive Neil Carberry said the figures were signs of some resilience in the UK economy: “This month’s postings data reflects both anecdote from recruiters and the core ONS workforce jobs survey – that the labour market is more stuck than going backwards.

“Despite the headwinds of tax rises and lower growth there seems to be some resilience. After a long jobs market slowdown, a second month of weak growth in new postings is a sign more of hope than concern.”

He acknowledged that while the global growth picture was weak, the UK was relatively well-positioned to take advantage of what opportunities there were.

Carberry said: “We are past the interest rate peak, the UK looks good value by comparison with the US, has banked progress on trade deals and has a stable legal and political picture for the next few years. With interest rates staying steady and a possibility of reductions later this year, the challenge now is to build business confidence to invest.”

He said it was crucial that this month’s announcements on infrastructure and industrial strategy set a clear plan for growth that companies could get behind

Once again, he warned that government policy may not favour growth in business: “With a troubling Employment Rights Bill, a big jobs tax increase and anti-business language about agency workers in some parts of government – there is a lot to change to get us there.”

The jobs listing rises in Scotland and the south-west of England were likely to reflect growing demand as the summer tourist season gets under way, the figures suggested.

The largest increase in postings were for delivery drivers and couriers (53.7%), while those for business sales executives – for the second month in a row (-47.3%) – showed the largest decline.

Hospitality showed the biggest decrease in job postings from April to May (-4.5%), while the retail sector saw a 1.5% fall.

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