Salaries Set To Increase In 2020

With over half of UK professionals believing that their pay is not an accurate reflection of the work they do, news of salary increases above 2020 inflation rates (1.94%) will be warmly welcomed.

The biggest pay increases for white collar professionals will be in The Midlands (+4.46%), The North (+3.31%), followed by South East (+2.90%) and Merseyside (+2.86%). Whilst business confidence returns to most regions within the UK, London will experience the slowest growth in salaries at +2.15%.

The findings come from leading global recruitment constancy Robert Walters whose annual Salary Survey 2020 is the biggest research piece of its kind, reviewing over 100,000 roles and the views of over 9,000 UK employees.

Professionals working in legal, marketing, procurement, accounting & finance and tech-based roles will see their pay increase above the national average. Whereas salaries within HR, banking, and logistics will remain static – at most receiving a 1 - 2% increase.

For contractors, the most lucrative day-rate increases will be in procurement (+8%), supply chain (+5%), and marketing (+4%). Not surprisingly it is again in HR, banking, and logistics where contractors will be receiving the lowest day-rate increase in 2020.

Chris Hickey, UK CEO at Robert Walters commented: “While the UK was defined by a year of political and economic instability due to Brexit, the hiring market performed better than anticipated. There were pockets of hiring activity within sectors such as technology and fintech, along with positive recruitment in property, professional services and specific areas within banking such as hedge funds."

According to Robert Walters data, professional job vacancies increased by 17% in 2019 when compared with the previous year – with the most notable hiring activity taking place in Birmingham (+26%), Belfast (25%), Manchester (+24%), Glasgow (+23%), and Nottingham (+23%). In most cases, regions outside of London had almost double the job growth than the capital.