Ads reveal a boost for jobseekers in the North

Jobseekers in northern England could be finally be catching a break, according to a new survey.

The North-east and the North-west saw the largest increases in average advertised salaries over the past six months, rising faster even than London.

In July, salaries on advertisements rose 1.8 per cent in the North-west, 1.6 per cent in the North-east, but just 0.9 per cent in the capital, according to research by the jobs website Adzuna.

“The construction and manufacturing sectors are certainly propping up the job market in this part of the country, with some early indications that the Government’s efforts to revitalise the economy outside of London are starting to take effect,” said Flora Lowther, of Adzuna.

However, the survey also showed that the remains a chasm between the number of job opportunities in the South and the North.

There were 72 jobseekers per vacancy in Salford in July, the highest level in the UK.

This was followed by Sunderland, with 31 people per vacancy, Hull with 29 and Rochdale with 25.

The lowest level of jobseekers per vacancy was in the Scottish oil city of Aberdeen. But the rest of the top 10 easiest places to find a job were in the South.

In Cambridge there were just 0.4 jobseekers per vacancy, 0.5 in Guildford and 0.55 in Winchester. In London there were 1.52 people chasing each vacancy.

The total number of new jobs advertised in July was 524,656 – up 1 per cent on a year earlier.

Vacancies for construction jobs increased by 9 per cent and by 6 per cent for manufacturing jobs. Both sectors have slumped dramatically since the 2008 financial crisis.

The squeeze on real wages shows no sign of abating with the average annual advertised salary of all jobs £33,462 over the month, more than 6 per cent lower than July 2012 when adjusted for inflation.