
South West – UK Regional Labour Market Trends, April 2025
Professional job vacancies in the South West rose in early 2025, driven by infrastructure investment and the Western Gateway initiative.
Professional job vacancies in the South West rose in early 2025, driven by infrastructure investment and the Western Gateway initiative.
Britain’s fiscal policies in late 2024 reshaped regional labour markets, with sectors like real estate, property, and digital expanding, while IT and engineering saw declines. Regional disparities widened, with London thriving, while areas like the North West faced hiring challenges, particularly in the financial sector.
Between 2023 and 2024, professional vacancies in the Midlands fell 9.0%, outpacing the national decline of 1.5%, with the West Midlands seeing the sharpest drop. Economic pressures, including retail closures and a slowdown in investment, have driven this regional contraction.
Regional disparities in recruitment highlight increasing economic imbalances across the UK. In 2024, London was the only region to see YoY growth, boosting its share of total vacancies from 34.4% to 36.8%.
AI adoption into insurance is accelerating as businesses optimise processes to improve outcomes while streamlining headcounts, with claims in particular being impacted. As a result, despite a year where the sector saw record profits, vacancies have fallen by 11.7% in 2024 compared to the year before.