UK commercial hiring rebounds across the board, up 22% YoY in Q3

UK commercial hiring turned a corner in Q3, with total openings up 22% YoY, a sharp reversal from the declines flagged in the Q1 update. Manufacturing and industrial facilities led the rebound, up 44.7% YoY, helped by rising export demand, even as manufacturers themselves report more caution on hiring. Logistics (+28.5%) and construction (+13%) gains trace to the same source: a wave of data centre and logistics hub construction, backed by energy and infrastructure investment. Trade/retail rounded out the group at +7%. The gains aren’t just annual, either, with quarter over quarter openings across all four categories jumping between 23% and 34%, and the sector total up nearly 28% from Q2 alone. After a rough start to the year, UK commercial hiring looks to be entering a genuine recovery.

Belfast and Manchester buck the decline in UK hospitality job openings

Food and accommodations openings fell across nearly every major UK city in the second quarter, but the shift was not evenly distributed. Belfast openings are up 17.8%YoY, the only city with growth, while Manchester slipped just 3.9%, far outperforming the 17.3% average decline across the UK’s 10 biggest hospitality markets. London, still the largest hospitality job center, fell 20.1% as its share of national openings edged down. Newcastle and Bristol saw the steepest drops, down 32.8% and 29.2%.

Growth in healthcare job openings primarily for health support workers

Healthcare job openings increased 17% in July, but those roles were very narrowly focused on support workers and healthcare assistants, rather than job openings for doctors and nurses. With the growth of the “Home First” policy for hospital discharges, care continues to shift into home and community settings. And more elderly are encouraged to age in place. Those broader healthcare trends are reflecting in the ongoing mix of healthcare job openings across the U.K.

Demand for AI skills has more than doubled in the past year

The share of job openings requiring AI-related skills reached a record 5.43% in Q2 2026, more than double the 2.65% recorded a year earlier. Even so, the UK has been slow to turn AI enthusiasm into widespread hiring, with many employers still cautious about adoption. But the increase in the past year, however, suggests momentum is beginning to build. If demand continues to climb at this pace, the gap between the AI skills employers need and those available in the UK workforce could widen quickly, making reskilling increasingly important for maintaining competitiveness.

Employers are prioritising stability over creativity in 2026

Demand for emotionally stable and confident candidates surged 68% YoY in job listings, while demand for creativity, interpersonal skills, and problem solving fell between 19% and 26%. Leadership, trustworthiness, and decision making also posted modest gains. The shift may reflect evolving hiring priorities in the age of AI, as more task-oriented work is handled by technology and employers place greater value on distinctly human traits that are harder to replicate.

April brought welcome relief after a sharp two-month slide. Permanent job openings rose 25% MoM, recovering from a difficult February and March, while temporary roles climbed 10%. However, permanent openings are still nearly 7% below April 2025, even as temporary volumes have largely held up, sitting just 1.6% ahead YoY. The widening gap between placement types signals that employers are continuing to lean on flexibility while holding back on longer term headcount commitments.