Job vacancies increased across the UK in September as employers restarted recruitment after the summer lull, according to the latest Labour Market Tracker from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). The data suggests signs of stability returning to hiring following a weaker performance a year earlier.

The REC, which represents the UK’s recruitment industry, reported 742,967 new job postings in September 2025, up 11.3 percent compared with August. The number of active job adverts stood at 1,638,924, an increase of 10.6 percent month on month and 5.5 percent higher than in September 2024. The confederation said the figures showed the market had avoided the sharper slowdown seen last year, when active postings fell by nearly 10 percent between August and September 2024.

Across the regions, Northern Ireland recorded the strongest rise in overall postings, up 18.7 percent, followed by the North West at 13.2 percent. The increases were echoed locally in Causeway Coast and Glens, where job adverts grew 40.5 percent, and in Fermanagh and Omagh, up 40 percent. Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon also reported growth of 38.2 percent.

By contrast, several London boroughs experienced falling numbers of adverts. Westminster recorded a 14.2 percent decline, Camden and the City of London fell 13.9 percent and Tower Hamlets was down 7.8 percent. Analysts said the contrast between Northern Ireland and London reflected stronger seasonal activity in logistics, manufacturing and hospitality outside the capital, where firms were preparing for the Christmas period.

The REC’s monthly tracker, compiled with labour market analytics firm Lightcast, gathers data from tens of thousands of job boards to monitor trends across sectors and locations. The confederation said the September figures pointed to a resilient jobs market despite wider economic uncertainty and slowing growth in some professional fields.

‘Encouraging’ rise

Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, said recruiters had reported “a trickle of hiring firms coming back to the market in September, especially in the Midlands and the North”. He said the data appeared to confirm the trend, adding that while modest, the rise was encouraging for sectors such as hospitality, logistics and light industrial work, which typically expand ahead of the festive season.

Carberry said that turning the current improvement into sustained growth would depend on employers’ confidence in the broader economy. “To build a trickle of new hiring into a river, employers will need to feel more confident in the economic outlook,” he said.

“That is why the upcoming budget needs to back business, not burden it. That means no unaffordable tax hikes, sensible updates to the Employment Rights Bill to ensure it is deliverable, genuine support for flexible working and action to fix the recruitment costs fuelled by the NHS’s anti-agency measures.”

Hospitality and finance lead the way

The hospitality sector recorded an 11 percent monthly increase in total postings, led by leisure and sports managers and proprietors, up 25.7 percent, waiters and waitresses, up 18.1 percent, and bar and catering supervisors, up 12.1 percent. The REC noted that this followed a 13 percent rise in waiter and waitress postings in August, suggesting a steady build-up of demand ahead of the end-of-year trading period.

Finance roles grew by 12.9 percent in September. Demand rose most strongly for chartered and certified accountants, up 19 percent; data analysts, up 18.8 percent; and financial administrative occupations not elsewhere classified, up 18.5 percent. Blue collar vacancies increased 9.2 percent overall, including packers, bottlers, canners and fillers, up 27.7 percent; assemblers, up 25.9 percent; and fork-lift truck drivers, up 16.9 percent.

Winners and losers among occupations

Among specific job types, postal workers, mail sorters, messengers and couriers saw the largest rise in postings at 108.1 percent, reflecting higher delivery demand ahead of Christmas. Head teachers and principals were up 57.5 percent, and educational support assistants 39.8 percent.

By contrast, nursing and healthcare roles recorded the sharpest drops. Postings for midwifery nurses fell 16.5 percent, optometrists 13.7 percent, and registered specialist nurses 11 percent. The report suggested that continuing pressures within the NHS, including limits on agency spending, were reducing the number of advertised roles in some medical areas.

A steadier jobs picture emerging

The REC said the overall picture indicated a more stable market than last year, when hiring momentum weakened sharply in the autumn. Active job postings have now remained above 1.4 million for several consecutive months, a level the confederation described as “solid” given wider uncertainty around business investment and consumer confidence.

Observers noted that September traditionally marks a return to recruitment activity following the summer holiday slowdown. The REC said that while a post-summer bounce was not guaranteed, this year’s rise pointed to greater employer willingness to recruit despite mixed economic indicators.

The REC said it would continue to monitor the balance between demand for temporary and permanent staff in the final quarter of the year, particularly in sectors most affected by seasonal peaks. Carberry said that while employers were showing greater willingness to hire, many remained cautious about longer-term commitments.

As the year draws to a close, the REC said it expects hospitality, logistics and customer-facing roles to remain the main sources of demand, with public sector and professional services hiring likely to stay subdued until the new year.