{"id":2115809,"date":"2026-10-08T08:21:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost"},"modified":"2026-10-08T08:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:22:34","slug":"midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost","title":{"rendered":"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK, according to the latest KPMG and REC Report on Jobs.<\/p>\n

Starting salaries for permanent workers in the Midlands rose in September at their quickest pace since February, but growth remained modest and below both the historical and UK averages. Temp pay also rose for the tenth month in a row, but the increase was the weakest of the four English regions tracked.<\/p>\n

Permanent placements rose for the third consecutive month. Of the four regions tracked, only the North saw a stronger increase, while the South of England was the only region to record a fall.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a> found that temp billings in the Midlands also returned to growth after two months of decline, rising at the fastest pace since May and faster than the UK average.<\/p>\n

However, demand for permanent staff fell for the 28th month in a row, though the decline was the softest so far this year. Temp vacancies also dipped slightly.<\/p>\n

The availability of candidates continued to rise sharply, with recruiters attributing the increase to redundancies, adding to competition for roles.<\/p>\n

Kate Holt, people consulting partner at KPMG in the Midlands, said: “September’s figures suggest confidence is returning to the Midlands jobs market.<\/p>\n

“That said, jobseekers are unlikely to feel the full benefit of that improving confidence just yet. Vacancies are still falling and candidate availability continues to rise, meaning competition for roles remains high. With the Autumn Budget approaching<\/a>, businesses will be looking for measures that give them the certainty to turn improving confidence into investment and sustained hiring.”<\/p>\n

Maxine Bligh, chief membership and innovation officer at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said: “The pickup in permanent placements in the region was the fastest since November 2022 and points to renewed confidence among employers.<\/p>\n

“A Budget that gets business confidence moving again is key to keeping that momentum going.”<\/p>\n

The survey is compiled by S&P Global from responses from around 100 recruitment and employment consultancies in the Midlands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":284306,"featured_media":2115810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782,8,127684],"coauthors":[137138],"class_list":["post-2115809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-people","category-recruitment","tag-east-midlands","tag-featured-story","tag-west-midlands"],"yoast_head":"\nMidlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost | TheBusinessDesk.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost | TheBusinessDesk.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"East Midlands\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-08T07:21:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-08T07:22:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Georgia Wright\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Georgia Wright\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost\",\"name\":\"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost | TheBusinessDesk.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-08T07:21:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-08T07:22:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#\/schema\/person\/71720cf99270170d60803ee858e189b9\"},\"description\":\"Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg\",\"width\":1800,\"height\":1200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/\",\"name\":\"East Midlands\",\"description\":\"Regional business news for East Midlands\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#\/schema\/person\/71720cf99270170d60803ee858e189b9\",\"name\":\"Georgia Wright\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/aae2f4c92c69e014020fc7ac83f2b339\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e656f9a744904f61cbf2914d05dc00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e656f9a744904f61cbf2914d05dc00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Georgia Wright\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/author\/georgiawright\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost | TheBusinessDesk.com","description":"Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost | TheBusinessDesk.com","og_description":"Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost","og_site_name":"East Midlands","article_published_time":"2026-10-08T07:21:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-08T07:22:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1800,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Georgia Wright","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Georgia Wright","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost","url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost","name":"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost | TheBusinessDesk.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg","datePublished":"2026-10-08T07:21:46+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-08T07:22:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#\/schema\/person\/71720cf99270170d60803ee858e189b9"},"description":"Employers across the Midlands are hiring permanent staff at the fastest rate since November 2022, but pay rises in the region continue to trail the rest of the UK","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/_files\/images\/KPMG-3_1800x1200.jpg","width":1800,"height":1200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/2115809-midlands-workers-fall-behind-the-rest-of-the-uk-on-pay-despite-hiring-boost#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Midlands workers fall behind the rest of the UK on pay despite hiring boost"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/","name":"East Midlands","description":"Regional business news for East Midlands","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#\/schema\/person\/71720cf99270170d60803ee858e189b9","name":"Georgia Wright","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/aae2f4c92c69e014020fc7ac83f2b339","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e656f9a744904f61cbf2914d05dc00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e656f9a744904f61cbf2914d05dc00d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Georgia Wright"},"url":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/news\/author\/georgiawright"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/284306"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2115809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2115810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2115809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2115809"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/eastmidlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2115809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}