{"id":23195,"date":"2025-06-30T18:54:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T18:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=23195"},"modified":"2025-07-21T17:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T17:36:07","slug":"a-tale-of-two-markets-professional-and-scientific-and-technical-job-market-trends-in-the-uk-and-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/a-tale-of-two-markets-professional-and-scientific-and-technical-job-market-trends-in-the-uk-and-us\/","title":{"rendered":"A tale of two markets: Professional, scientific and technical job market trends in the UK and US"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist at IES.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Analysing the divergent paths of UK and US professional, scientific, and technical employment opportunities<\/h2>\n

The \u2018Professional, scientific and technical activities\u2019<\/span> industrial<\/span> sector has become a bellwether for economic health and innovation capabilities among the most technologically advanced countries. The sector comprises of establishments that specialise in performing professional, scientific, and technical activities for others, which require a high level of expertise and training. In the United States (US) the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector accounted in the <\/span>first quarter of 2025 for about $3,600 billion<\/span><\/a>, or just short of one fifth of the US real gross output for the same period. The sector has seen a notable expansion in the recent years that is indicative of the growth engine behind the US national output.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, on this side of the Atlantic things are very different. Recent data reveals fascinating contrasts between the UK and US job markets in these critical fields, with each country following distinctly different trajectories that offer valuable insights for HR professionals, policymakers, and job seekers alike. There is an ongoing divergence between the two countries that seems to only get greater every year, or even every quarter, considering the speed of change in the field of Ai engineering. So, what do the numbers tell us?<\/span><\/p>\n

Using data from the<\/span> Adzuna intelligence portal<\/span><\/a> on the job vacancies for the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector for the UK, and compare and contrast the job vacancies trajectories with US data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) for the same sector. The data analysis of job vacancies in the sector reveals a striking divergence between the UK and US markets for professional, scientific, and technical roles. While both the UK and the US experienced a similar volatility during the Covid19 pandemic and in the early period post-pandemic, their recovery patterns after 2022 and current trajectories paint two very different pictures.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

The Great Divergence of the post Covid\/Brexit period<\/h2>\n

The US story is a story of resilience and recovery. The US shows remarkable resilience in its professional and scientific job market. After experiencing a notable dip in 2020 during Covid19 (dropping to approximately 10.5 million vacancies), the market experienced strong recovery momentum, adding more than an half a million professional scientific jobs a year later, with the sector continuing to grow, <\/span>reaching 12,045,700 jobs in 2024<\/span><\/a>. While there has been some moderation since then, the market has stabilised with the two-period moving average showing steady performance above pre-pandemic levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

The UK story tells a different story entirely. The UK\u2019s professional and scientific job market, so far at least, appears to be one of continuous volatility and uncertainty. Starting from a lower base of just sort of a million vacancies in the sector, the market experienced more pronounced volatility than the US in 2020, but ultimately achieved a strong recovery the following year. After the 2020 dip, UK job vacancies in the professional, scientific and technical activities sector showed an initial upward momentum, reaching a higher level than the pre-pandemic years at around 1.03 million job vacancies, before plummeting to almost half the peak by 2025. The 2-months moving average suggests that while the fall is losing momentum it is not over yet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The US technology sector is experiencing robust growth with over 7 million tech job postings recorded, reflecting a <\/span>33% month-over-month increase<\/span><\/a> and a 16% rise compared to last year. A key factor behind the US professional, scientific and technical jobs expansion lies the Tech Sector expansion. Tech occupation employment over the next 10 years is expected to grow at about twice the rate compared to other sectors, effectively acting like \u2018the tide that lifts all boats\u2019 in the broader sector, and maybe even the US economy as a whole. While Silicon Valley continues to thrive in 2025, emerging cities such as Denver, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix are becoming key locations for the tech job market, further sustaining the momentum of the sector\u2019s job growth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The UK market’s growth trajectory reflects significant structural changes in the economy. One must not dismiss the dual negative effect of the Covid19 pandemic and of Brexit. Two negative economic shocks that hit the country almost simultaneously in 2020. In 2024, there were approximately <\/span>1.5 million people employed the UK tech industry<\/span><\/a>. If the expansion of the Ai Tech sector follows a similar path like it has on the other side of the Atlantic, then it is also likely that the professional and scientific job market will grow. However, regardless of the <\/span>hopes and dreams of the UK government<\/span><\/a>, that growths has yet to manifest itself in job vacancy numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

The average weekly earnings (AWE) in the Professional, scientific and technical activities sector have been growing steadily, with the <\/span>first quarter of 2025 showing an increase of about 10 percent<\/span><\/a> compared to the last quarter of 2024. AWE in sector for the first months of 2025 ranged <\/span>between \u00a31,032 and \u00a31,283, compared to \u00a3978 and \u00a31,276<\/span><\/a> a year before. Plotting the average annual growth rate along with the 2 years moving average we can see the gradual loss of momentum for the sector.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Both the US and the UK job markets are being reshaped by technological advancement, particularly in Ai tech and cloud computing, which is creating new demand for skills and expertise, whilst transforming traditional roles. This type of environment demands agility in talent strategies, emphasis on emerging skills, and recognition that the competition for top talent in these sectors will only intensify. If the UK wishes to achieve the aspirations of policy makers and successive UK governments, then attracting and retaining top talent must be at the centre of any such plan. London is already home to a host of leading companies in the field of Ai and cloud computing, but the competition for top scientists and tech engineers in these fields is fierce. Understanding the key issues about talent acquisition, talent retention, and skills development, is crucial in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.<\/span><\/p>\n

IES<\/a>\u00a0is an independent, apolitical, international centre of research and consultancy in public employment policy and HR management. It works closely with employers in all sectors, government departments, agencies, professional bodies and associations. IES is a focus of knowledge and practical experience in employment and training policy, the operation of labour markets, and HR planning and development. IES is a not-for-profit organisation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Want to get data insights to help you make more informed decisions?\u00a0Speak to our Adzuna Intelligence team.<\/a><\/div>\n
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\"\"\u00a0Read more:\u00a0<\/strong>The unintended consequences of good intentions: How recent UK employment policy changes are reshaping job markets<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nick Litsardopoulos, Research Economist at IES. Analysing the divergent paths of UK and US professional, scientific, and technical employment opportunities The \u2018Professional, scientific and technical activities\u2019 industrial sector has become a bellwether for economic health and innovation capabilities among the most technologically advanced countries. The sector comprises of establishments that specialise in performing professional, Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":23204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1168],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adzuna-intelligence"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23195"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23256,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23195\/revisions\/23256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}