The UK is the only country among Europe’s five largest economies where job postings have not fully recovered since COVID-19, remaining about 20% below their pre-pandemic levels as of late 2025.
Demand for labour is shifting, with some occupations losing ground, while others are seeing strong growth.
Data from global hiring platform Indeed shows that only a small number of categories have recorded growth over the past year.
Loading and stocking saw the biggest rise, up 20 percentage points, followed by childcare and logistics support, which both rose by 15 points.
The next-largest increase was below 10 percentage points, with civil engineering up 8 points. Job postings in four sectors rose by 5 points each: IT systems and solutions, architecture, software development, and food preparation and the food service sector.
The biggest drop was in veterinary-related jobs, where postings fell by 39 points. Real estate, along with community and social services, also saw significant declines.
Demand since the pandemic
Looking at job posting changes over nearly six years, from 1 February 2020 to 21 November 2025, a different picture emerges.
In this analysis, postings are indexed to 100 on 1 February 2020, which represents pre-pandemic levels.
The occupations where postings remain most elevated compared with pre-pandemic levels are education and instruction, mechanical engineering, and social science.
The ‘education and instruction’ category stands out, with an index of 148, meaning postings are 48% higher than before the pandemic. Social science also ranks third, with an index of 124.
Two engineering roles appear in the top four. Postings are up 30% in mechanical engineering and 23% in electrical engineering.
On the other hand, several occupations remain well below pre-pandemic levels. Nursing saw the largest decline, with an index of 32, meaning job postings fell by 68%.
Declines are also above 50% in beauty and wellness, which has an index of 43, or a 57% drop.
Year-on-year shifts
When the same 14 occupations are examined over the past year, focusing on the seven largest rises and seven biggest declines over the six-year period, a different picture emerges.
None of them recorded growth. One remained unchanged, while the other 13 saw declines between November 2024 and November 2025.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed, attributed the UK’s relative underperformance in job postings to increased employment costs and policy uncertainty.
Since April 2025, employers must contribute a 15% payroll tax on most employees’ wages above £5,000 (€5,760). They previously paid 13.8% on salaries above £9,100 (€10,500).
Indeed data also show that low-wage job postings are trending weaker than high-paid roles.
As of November 2025, low-wage postings are 20% below pre-pandemic levels, while high-wage postings are down by 14%.
“This divergence has been partly driven by the slowdown in hiring demand in sectors including retail, hospitality and leisure, which employ large numbers of lower-wage staff and have been hit hardest by increased payroll costs and significant minimum wage increases,” Kennedy said.
