Commenting on Robert Walters’ data showing a 17% increase in professional job vacancies compared with the previous year, Hickey says: “While the UK was defined by a year of political and economic instability due to Brexit, the hiring market performed better than anticipated.”

According to Robert Walters, the biggest increases in hiring activity took place in Birmingham (+26%), Belfast (25%), Manchester (+24%), Glasgow (+23%) and Nottingham (+23%). 

Explaining the data that most regions outside of London had almost double the job growth of the capital, Hickey says: “The nearshoring of roles – in particular back-office and operations – to other regions in the UK (namely the Midlands and North-West) is something that has been on the agenda for some time and in fact is not Brexit related, but is a decision based on cost-saving. From a London perspective, nearshoring has had more of a significant impact on hiring activity than Brexit.”

Meanwhile, a survey also by Robert Walters indicates that after two years of pay freezes, salaries for white-collar workers are set to rise. According to the survey, salaries are expected to increase by 3% across the UK in 2020.

The survey predicts 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%).

London will experience the slowest growth in salaries at +2.15% – less than half of the increase expected in The Midlands.

Professionals working in legal, marketing, procurement, accounting & finance and tech-based roles will see their pay increase above the 3% 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 are expected to be in procurement (+8%), supply chain (+5%) and marketing (+4%), with contractors working in HR, banking and logistics seeing the lowest increases. 

“What the data in the Robert Walters salary survey highlights is that the UK will continue to be a global hub for professional services – from legal, HR, accounting, marketing, tech and business support – the UK continues to have some of the best skilled talent in the world,” adds Hickey.

• Comment below on this story. You can also tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend. Our editorial email is [email protected]