The public relations agency job market has experienced whiplash. In just 60 days, it shifted from boom to notable caution.

Jobs in PR is a data project that tracks job vacancies at the UK's top 50 agencies as a proxy for the public relations market's performance. Our hypothesis is that recruitment is a leading indicator.

After a strong August with 121 job postings among leading agencies, there was a notable pullback to 93 positions in October – a decline of 23%.

The reversal in hiring momentum can be attributed to several factors:

• The initial post-election optimism in the UK market has rapidly waned.

• The new Government’s narrative on public finances has dampened business confidence.

• Pre-Budget and US election uncertainty led to more cautious investment approaches among clients and agencies.

Not all levels are equal

The slowdown has not impacted all positions equally. Agencies are continuing to build talent pipelines through entry and mid-level recruitment while being more cautious about investing in senior-level positions.

The most significant impact has been at the senior level, where hiring has sharply declined. This suggests agencies are particularly cautious about making high-level investments in the current climate.

Mid-level roles have shown remarkable resilience, with 49 current openings. This indicates agencies are maintaining their operational capacity while managing costs, providing a sense of stability in this area of the job market.

Entry-level recruitment remains steady, with 27 positions advertised, demonstrating a commitment to building future talent pipelines. This should instil some optimism about the market's underlying fundamentals.

What’s next?

With the Budget and US election out of the way, all eyes are on economic performance indicators as the industry heads towards the end of the year and a more settled 2025 and growth.

Here’s hoping.

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Agencies outside the UK top 50 can submit job listings too, and we track them separately from the main dataset. Use this link to submit an ad.

A big thanks to PRmoment for letting us share our findings each month and to Hard Numbers for supporting us as our data partner.