A record number of new travel industry jobseekers was registered last month despite standard pay for advertised roles falling by 3.5% over March 2016, new figures reveal.
The number of people looking for jobs in travel smashed the previous high in March 2012 by more than 100 candidates, according to C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment.
Coupled with strong figures recorded in January and February, the total number of people registering in the first quarter of 2017 rose by 54.5% compared to the same period last year and is easily the best start to a year ever recorded on the companies’ monthly travel salary index.
There was a similar rise in new vacancies, with March seeing a 30.3% increase from the same month last year and recording the second highest monthly figure since April 2015.
The total number of new travel jobs being made available in the first three months of 2017 went up by 30.5% year-on-year and was the best start to a year since C&M’s records began in 2012.
However, March provided polarising results, with wages in London rising to £27,799, their highest point since April 2016, while salaries for the average travel role fell back to £21,963, which was its lowest figure since last October.
With only a 0.92% monthly increase, the average salary for a new job in travel reached £24,988 in March, although this was still down by 3.35% from March 2016.
C&M director, Barbara Kolosinska, said: “Activity levels reached a new high in the past three months with more job seekers and more new travel vacancies than we can ever remember seeing.
“Thankfully, despite any fears, global events seem to have had little impact on travel recruitment so far with many travel companies looking to take on new employees imminently.
“However, with the volume of job seekers rising by 55% year-on-year compared to a 31% rise in the number of new roles, competition is currently increasing among candidates meaning applicants will need to try increasingly hard to stand out.”