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Decreased candidate availability drives legal salaries up

Published on: 26 Nov 2018

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Starting salaries reached a near-record high in October, driven up by falling availability of suitable candidates occurring at the quickest rate since January 2018. Coupled with last month’s record number of live jobs posted on TotallyLegal, now is an exceptional time to be in the market for a new role in the legal sector.

According to October’s KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs, firms have been raising salary offers in order to attract suitably skilled candidates – a point reflected in the state of salaries on TotallyLegal. In October, the number of jobs in all five salary bands between £10,000 and £39,999 saw year-on-year declines, with the £10,000 - £14,999 band dropping the most at -42%. The number of roles in the six higher salary bands of £40,000 - £249,999 all saw increases compared to this time last year.

Unemployment is currently at its joint-lowest level since 1975. Combined with a near-record high number of job vacancies and a robust demand for staff, the top tier employers and global law firms partnered with TotallyLegal are raising their salaries in order to attract – and retain – talented legal professionals.

Amidst Brexit uncertainties and with the festive season fast approaching, now may not seem like the time for a job change; but the statistics tell otherwise. Get ahead of the New Year rush by searching and applying for law jobs today on TotallyLegal.