Marvin OnumonuApril saw 729,029 new job postings in the UK, up 0.4% on March, according to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and Lightcast Labour Market Tracker.
Overall, active job postings dropped by 4.8% to 1,471,260 compared to the previous month.
London was the only region with an increase in the total number of job postings, up by 1.7% from March, while the South West also saw a slight rise of 0.8%.
Recruiters said the Easter break, higher business costs and uncertainty over US tariffs affected hiring.
Firms also pointed to the impact of the national insurance (NI) rise.
New job adverts edged up, but total active postings stayed above 1.4 million.
Neil Carberry, CEO at REC, said: “The British labour market is resilient, but facing some strong headwinds this year from cost inflation and the impact of government policies like the National Insurance rise.
“These figures show that there is underlying demand, however. Getting confidence to hire and invest is what matters most – and firms will be looking to government decisions that make growth easier, unlike the effect of last year’s Budget.
“Many firms report that fear of the Employment Rights Bill is holding up investment – one quick win for the government is to reassure firms that application of the Bill will be staged, and done in a practical way that avoids tying businesses and workers up in the costs and complexity of the tribunal system. Real reform to the Bill is needed to achieve this.”
Carberry added: “The dip in active job postings shows that employers are still cautious, but the slight rise in new postings suggests that hiring plans are still on the table.
“The resilience seen in London and the South West is a positive sign, as London in particular is often the leading indicator of change in our jobs market.”
The tracker reported 45,760 active job postings for care workers and home carers in April.
International recruitment for care workers is set to end under new plans from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Job postings rose for business sales executives (up 90% compared to March), environment professionals (up 20.4%) and dental practitioners (up 19.8%).
Delivery drivers and couriers (down 23% from March), teaching professionals not elsewhere classified (n.e.c.), down by 25.9% and driving instructors (down 36.8%) saw the largest drop in roles.
Lambeth (up 45.1%), Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham (up 34.1%) and Westminster (up 33.3%) had the biggest increase in job ads.
Nine out of the top 10 local authorities with the highest rise were in London.
Merton, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton had 6,480 active job postings in April.
Fermanagh and Omagh (down 22.8%), Newry, Mourne and Down (down 23.4%) and Causeway Coast and Glens (down 26%) saw the sharpest fall in job postings.
Additionally, research revealed that retail job adverts fell by 3.9% from March to April.
Roles like retail cashiers and check-out operators went up (10.6%), as did shelf fillers (3.9%) and call and contact centre occupations (0.4%).
Collector salespersons and credit agents (down 8.9%), elementary sales occupations n.e.c. (down 9.4%) and telephone salespersons (down 13%) dropped.
Construction job postings were down 4.3%.
Painters and decorators had the biggest rise, up 12.1% from March.
Scaffolders, stagers and riggers (up 7.2%), assemblers (electrical and electronic products) (up 5.9%) and plasterers (up 5.1%) also increased.
Engineering roles posted in April reached over 67,000, a 3.5% drop from March.
Aerospace engineers (up 6.9%), engineering professionals n.e.c. (up 3.3%) and building and civil engineering technicians (up 1.7%) saw the biggest increases.
Production and process engineers (down 5%), science, engineering and production technicians n.e.c. (down 6%) and engineering technicians (down 6.4%) had the steepest declines.
Carberry said: “Today’s data suggests that staff shortages in the care sector persist and reduction in access to international staff is likely to lead to more unfilled vacancies without more fundamental reform.
“The crisis in care has always been about cost to deliver care and affordability for the taxpayer and families.
“Just restricting international mobility for care work is not a solution to this – we need more fundamental reform.”
