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Signs of the annual summer recruitment slowdown have been shown in the monthly C&M Recruitment salary index for newly advertised roles in travel.
July saw a fall in the average salary on offer although the yearly trend is still positive. However, C&M reported both candidate and vacancy levels have dropped.
The wage for the standard travel role increased in July, the third consecutive month in the positive. The average salary for a new job in the travel industry remains significantly up compared to a year ago at £25,175.
July’s fall of 2.7% was the largest since February, but follows the 4.07% rise in June, meaning that average travel salaries are still 2.19% or £540 higher than a year ago and have now risen annually in 10 of the past 11 months.
Wages for standard travel jobs (up to £40,000) increased in the month by 0.77%, but executive travel roles (above £40,000) fell at their fastest rate since January.
Barbara Kolosinska, director at C&M Travel Recruitment and C&M Executive Recruitment, said: “July was a quieter month than June, but salaries are still rising year-on-year for the typical travel candidate.
“Although we’re not seeing huge annual increases, the fact that the average new travel job is paying £540 more now than a year ago indicates that things are healthy in the travel industry.”
C&M said warmer weather contributed to a small dip in new candidate registrations in July, with the number of applicants now having fallen year-on-year for the past four months.
This trend was expected to continue during the traditionally quiet month of August.
There was also a fall in the number of new travel job vacancies being made available in July with the monthly total dipping to its lowest point this year.
Kolosinska added: “Both the number of new travel jobs and candidates fell last month, which is disappointing but not entirely surprising.
“The mid to late summer period is always one of the slowest for travel recruitment due to many candidates and clients choosing instead to fly away on their holidays.
“Of course, this lack of competition also creates opportunities that canny job seekers can take advantage of.”