Over 25 million people in the UK have LinkedIn profiles. We anonymise and aggregate the information from these profiles to create unique insights into workforce trends.

The LinkedIn Workforce Report is a monthly report looking at hiring and professional migration trends in the UK, and this month’s report looks at the latest data from June 2018. This is our ninth Workforce Report for the UK, and it takes a comparative look at both data from June 2018 and data from the previous 12 months to benchmark our findings and identify trends.

We time the workforce report in order to support the Office for National Statistics (ONS) labour reporting cycle, and the report we issue ahead of the ONS’s Labour Market Review covers the same period, up to the end of June 2018.

LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for every worker in the global workforce. We hope that the Workforce Report will be useful to our members, allowing you to better navigate your career, and to businesses and policy makers, who will be able use our insights to better inform their decisions on talent, migration, and employment.

Key Insights

• UK hiring was up in June. The seasonally adjusted (S.A.) month on month (MoM) Hiring Rate for June increased by 3.9%, compared with May. This increase reversed the 5.4% decrease seen between April and May.

• Hiring increased in most sectors of the jobs market. In June, S.A. MoM hiring was up in 18 of the 20 sectors that returned significant data. Key sectors that registered positive hiring growth included the Legal sector (up 26% MoM), IT Hardware (up 23%) and Education (up 11%). The Entertainment and Media and Communications sector were the only two sectors to register negative MoM growth of -4% and -2% respectively.

• Hiring Rates were up significantly compared with June 2017. The year on year (YoY) national Hiring Rate for June 2018 was up 10% on the same month in 2017. All sectors enjoyed YoY Hiring Rate increases, with Real Estate and Hardware and Networking seeing the biggest increases of 18% and 16% respectively.

• London was the only region to see the Hiring Rate decline this month. Of the 12 UK nations and regions only London saw a decline in its Hiring Rate, which was down -4% MoM.  The MoM change in the Hiring Rate was positive in all of the other nations and regions, with the North East and Wales enjoying particularly significant growth of 13% and 12% respectively.

• The UK continues to experience a net loss of talent to other countries. The significant shift to a net outflow of workers to other countries, that became evident in the first quarter of 2018, continued in June.

• London continues to see a net outflow of professions to other countries. In June the capital lost workers abroad for the fifth month in a row. However, as we’ve seen for three months now, the scale of the loss of international talent from the capital declined. London continues to be the UK region losing the greatest proportion of talent to other countries vs other UK regions.

• The majority of the UK’s nations and regions are also losing talent abroad. Nine out of 12 regions experienced outflows of international workers during June, these were unchanged from May. The regions that lost most talent to other countries in June were: the North East, Northern Ireland, and Yorkshire and the Humber. Only the East of England, the West Midlands and the South East attracted more overseas workers than they lost.

The Hiring Rate

The S.A. MoM National Hiring Rate for June was up 3.9% on the previous month, reversing a decrease of 5.4% in May and returning to the positive growth seen in April.

Year on Year (YoY) hiring was up 10.2% on June 2017, an indication that more people took up new jobs in June 2018 than in the same month last year. This was notably higher than in last month’s report, when the May 2017 to May 2018 did not see significant growth in hiring.

Regional Hiring Rates

The S.A. MoM change in the Hiring Rate in June grew in all but one of the 12 UK nations and regions, only London saw a decline in Hiring: a decrease of 4%. Significant growth was registered in the North East and Wales, of 13% and 12% respectively. Comparing with the previous year, The North East achieved the most significant YoY growth in hiring, which was up 17% compared to June 2017. Wales and the North West not far behind at a 13% increase over the same period.

Notable regional activity this month includes:

London

The S.A. Hiring Rate in London MoM declined by 3.9% in June, continuing the downward trends seen in May, with June’s hiring rate the lowest of 2018 so far. Aside from strong growth in April, the capital has experienced little positive movement in H1 of 2018. YoY growth in hiring was down 1.3% on June 2017.

The East of England– The S.A. MoM Hiring Rate was up by 4.1% in June. The YoY Hiring Rate was also up, by 3.1% on June 2017. Although the East of England saw hiring increase (both MoM and YoY), its growth was second lowest in the UK, only beating the decrease experience in London.

The North West – The North West experienced one of the highest levels of growth in all of the UK’s 12 nations and regions in both its S.A. MoM Hiring Rate and YoY growth, of 11.5% and 13.4%, respectively.

Scotland – Scotland registered growth in its S.A. MoM Hiring Rate of 10.4%. The Hiring rate also increased YoY, up 9.7% on June 2017.

Wales – The S.A. MoM Hiring Rate was up 12% in June, a considerable increase on the 1% growth seen in May. Hiring was also up YoY, and the increase was the highest of any part of the UK last month, up 12.7% versus June 2017.

South East – Hiring in the South East was up in May with the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate increasing by 9.8%, reversing the 7% decrease seen the previous month. The Hiring Rate was also up YoY, up 4.4% compared to June 2017.

The West Midlands – The Hiring Rate in the West Midlands was up 7.7% MoM in June and grew by 8.2 compared with the same month in 2017.

Yorkshire and the Humber – Yorkshire and the Humber experienced modest growth in its S.A. MoM Hiring Rate of 4.3%. The region saw continued YoY growth in the Hiring Rate of 5.4% versus June 2017.

The East Midlands – In June the East Midlands registered a positive S.A. MoM Hiring Rate (up 8.4%) reversing the decline experienced in May. YoY hiring grew by 8.9% versus June 2017.

The North East – The North East registered the highest increase in S.A. MoM Hiring Rate of the 12 regions and nations of the UK, of 13%, a significant difference compared to the -3% change seen last month. YoY, the region also topped the growth chart, experiencing a massive 17.2% growth versus June 2017.

South West – The S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in May increased significantly by 11.6% in the South West, reversing the downward results of the previous month. The Hiring Rate was also up YoY, 8.2% higher versus June 2017.

Sector Hiring Rates

A deep dive into the individual Hiring Rates for different sectors of the economy can give us a better understanding of the hiring changes that have been taking place. In June, The largest MoM increases in the Hiring Rate were for the Legal (26%), IT Hardware (23%), and Finance (8%).

Legal – The Legal sector registered the largest increase within the labour market, with the S.A MoM Hiring Rate up by 26.2% in June, after a 25% decrease from April to May. Similarly, the YoY  Hiring Rate registered significant growth of 13.5% on June 2017.

IT Hardware and Networking – The IT Hardware and Networking sector also saw a strong increase in its S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in June, up 16.5%. The picture was even stronger for YoY growth, which was up 23.4% on June 2017.

Finance – The Finance sector also saw an increase in its S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in June, up7.98%. The picture was also good for YoY growth, which was up 12.6% on June 2017.

Nonprofit – The Nonprofit sector saw a small increase in the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in May (up 1.6%), but saw more substantial growth in the YoY Hiring Rate with was up 13.6%.

Construction – S.A. MoM Hiring Rate for construction rose by 6.1%, reversing a decline of 9% in May. The YoY Hiring Rate grew by a strong 14% versus June 2017.

Manufacturing – The Hiring Rate in the Manufacturing sector also grew in June (up 8% MoM). It similarly grew YoY, up 8.3% versus the same month last year.

Energy and Mining – In June, Energy and Mining registered a small increase in the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate of 2.1%. YoY change was a more positive, with a growth of 14.2% in the Hiring Rate compared with June 2017.

Design – The S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in the Design sector was up 7.3% in June, and the YoY Hiring Rate was also positive (up 8.6% on June 2017).

Transportation and Logistics – In June the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate saw a slight increase of 1.8%, although Transportation and Logistics achieved a much higher increase in hiring YoY, up 15.5% on June 2017.

Corporate Services – S.A. MoM Hiring increased in the Corporate Services sector by 3.9% in June, reversing the decline in May. The Hiring Rate grew by 11.7% versus June 2017.

Real Estate – the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate returning to positive (up 4.8%), after yet another downward movement in May (when it was down 4%). Growth YoY was one of the largest across the sectors, up 17.9% versus June 2017.

Consumer Goods – There was a small increase of 2.7% in the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in the Consumer Goods sector in June. YoY the hiring rate grew more significantly, up 9.3% versus the same month last year.

Healthcare – A 2.3% increase in the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in Healthcare in June reversed the 3% decline in May. YoY the Hiring Rate edged up by 5% compared with June 2017.

Recreation and Travel – The S.A. MoM Hiring Rate was positive (up 2.1%) in June. Growth in the YoY Hiring Rate of 11.6% on June 2017 suggests the longer-term performance registered in April and May (8%, 22%) may be continuing, the sector has seen higher hiring YOY in every month this year.

Media and Communications – Media and Communications was one of two sectors to register negative growth in June, with a 1.8% decline in the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate, continuing the decline seen in May. YoY growth versus the same month last year was negligible, up 0.7%.

Public Administration – As with Healthcare, Public Administration also registered positive growth in the S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in May (up 4.4%), although YoY the Hiring Rate was a more positive 11.4% up on June 2017.

Retail – A positive S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in the Retail sector in June (up 4.8%) reversed a small downturn of 2% in May. There was even better news in terms of YoY growth versus June 2017, which was 9.9% higher.

Education – The S.A. MoM Hiring Rate was up by 11.2% in the Education sector in June, with the sector achieving a similarly high YoY increase of 14% on June 2017.

Software and IT Services – Software and IT Services registered a positive S.A. MoM Hiring Rate in May (up 7.3%). There was also a positive change in the YoY Hiring Rate versus May 2017, registering growth of 10%.

Entertainment – The Entertainment sector was the worst performing of the sectors in June, with a negative S.A. MoM Hiring Rate, down 4.4%. However, the sector has made some progress since last year, with the YoY Hiring Rate rising 3.6% on June 2017.

Migration

Our April report revealed that migration into the UK has been falling steadily since the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, and that in Q1 2018 the UK became a net exporter of talent. In June the net flows of overseas workers out of the UK that were evident in the first quarter continued, and nine out of 12 UK nations and regions reported net movements of talent to other countries.

London remains the most attractive region for international arrivals by volume, and continues to attract almost double the amount of overseas talent than its nearest rival Scotland, but Scotland continues to attract a higher proportion of its new arrivals from other countries. London, which became a net exporter of talent to the EU27 in Q1 2018, continued to lose international talent in June, but the rate at which it was doing so slowed again.

Outward migration from the UK’s regions

London, the South East and the East Midlands continue to be the regions from which members are most likely to leave and move to other UK regions or abroad, although departures from most regions of the UK continued to slow in June.

Of the three regions with the greatest number of overall departures, only London saw a majority of people who were leaving heading overseas. The majority of those leaving Northern Ireland and Scotland also headed abroad.

Inward migration to the UK’s regions

In June, London, the South East and the East of England continued to be the three regions gaining the most members from other UK regions or other countries.

Scotland and London saw the majority of inbound members arrive from another country, but this is no longer the case in Northern Ireland, where since February there has been a shift to a majority arriving from within the UK. Every other UK region also welcomes most of their arrivals from another part of the UK. There has been a consistent decline since the start of the year in the proportion of migrants arriving in London from other countries compared to those coming from within the UK, and the capital is now getting closer to an even split between international and domestic arrivals.

Net flows to UK regions

In June, London, the South West, the North West and Northern Ireland were net recipients of combined domestic and international migration. While in London the rate at which it has been losing talent overseas is slowing, domestic migration into the capital has been rising. The North East continued to see the biggest net outflow of any region in June, although the rate at which this is happening slowed compared to May.

For net domestic migration, London continues to be by far the biggest draw and there are signs that it is becoming more attractive. The South East and North East remain the regions with most people leaving.

From the perspective of international migration, only three out of the 12 nations and regions were net gainers of international talent in June, the same as May, a significant drop from the nine recorded in January. In June, the West Midlands, East of England and the South East all attracted talent from abroad. The North East, Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and Humber, the North West, Scotland, Wales, London and the South West all lost more workers to other countries than they gained.

Discuss the report on LinkedIn and Twitter at #UKWFR. Follow @LinkedInUK on Twitter to receive future reports, and follow our UK Country Manager Josh Graff on LinkedIn for additional insights.