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.

Commercial openings decline across all segments in Q1 2026

Logistics led the decline, falling over 40% since last quarter, though YoY losses remained relatively modest at 5.5%. Retail and trade, manufacturing, and construction each declined by more than 25% from Q4, further compounding what was already a weak end to 2025, especially for retail.

Sales jobs outpace opportunities for programmers in IT

With AI dominating conversations in every industry, it’s worth examining what IT job openings look like today. Programmers and systems analysts make up the largest percentage, but their share has been declining since mid-2025. Meanwhile, sales roles now make up 7% of open jobs, surpassing strict programmer roles. And support staff represent a small and shrinking percentage. This suggests a continued focus on developing and selling new technology, perhaps driven by AI, but less reliance on traditional administrative support roles, even at the manager level.

Sheffield, Birmingham, and Nottingham see largest YoY job growth

Although London remains the largest job center for the U.K., the distribution of job openings across the country has shifted slightly over the past two years. London job openings are up 36.6% year over year in Q4, whereas Sheffield jobs are up 49.5%. At the beginning of 2024 London job openings accounted for 54.2% of all job openings, but that fell to 51.3% at the end of 2025, with most of those jobs shifting to Birmingham and Sheffield.

Administrative job openings are declining across the U.K.

Administrative and other entry-level office job openings are declining across the U.K., perhaps as employers increasingly turn to AI and other technologies to automate many of the tasks often performed by these roles. However, job openings for occupations that require analytical and relational skills are showing net year-over-year growth.

Part time jobs are steadily increasing as a percentage of the labor market

Over the past four years, more and more job openings are offering less than full-time employment. In 2021, part-time roles were less than 10% of the openings advertised. Today, it’s more than 20%. This reflects a growing trend in the UK, with more workers across professions seeking flexibility and better work-life balance.