In this trying economy, it can be hard to eke out the winners of the ever-fluctuating jobs market. But look closely and it’s clear that some sectors are faring better than others. Against a backdrop of new obligations introduced by the Employment Rights Act, the National Insurance rise and climbing costs across the board, the sectors that are faring the best point to where the genuine opportunities are – both for businesses looking to hire and for workers deciding where to take their careers.
Looking at the new figures, three sectors stand out in particular: financial services, manufacturing and logistics and the professional functions of accounting, HR and legal.
The Job Sectors that are Growing
Banking, Finance & Insurance
Banking, Finance & Insurance recorded Year-on-Year (YoY) employment growth of 29.6% – the highest of any sector by a considerable margin, and nearly six times the national average. Some of that performance reflects a period of depressed hiring as businesses braced for the April 2025 NICs increase. But by and large, the direction and scale of recovery points to financial services businesses actively taking people on again across the UK SME market after a difficult year.
External data supports these findings – though it’s worth noting these sources cover the broader finance market rather than SMEs specifically. The CBI’s April 2026 Financial Services Survey, for example, found banks, insurers and investment managers reporting the fastest turnaround in business growth in 30 years – swinging from a negative balance of 38% in December 2025 to a positive balance of nearly two-thirds by March 2026.
This followed a broader recovery in finance sector hiring already underway through 2025, when Morgan McKinley and Vacancysoft recorded finance vacancies up 13% year-on-year, with fintech hiring surging to 29%. February 2026 survey data from specialised talent solutions and business consulting firm Robert Half reinforces that momentum, with 58% of UK finance and accounting employers planning to increase permanent headcount by summer 2026, up from 50% the previous period. Overall, these sources corroborate what the March Jobs Report shows: financial services businesses have moved decisively back into hiring mode after a cautious year.
Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics
In Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics, employment is up 15.0% YoY. Unlike the sharp rebound story in financial services, that growth has been steady and consistent – which makes it a more reliable signal of genuine structural demand rather than a correction after a quiet period. Wage growth at 7.0% YoY supports this: employers here are hiring and paying to attract people, not just filling seats left empty by departures. In the coming months, however, that picture may change when the full impact of the fuel crisis is apparent.
Accounting, HR & Legal
Accounting, HR & Legal grew 9.4% YoY, with the most plausible explanation being the compliance demands that have come with new legislation. From day-one sick pay entitlements to changes in paternity leave and zero-hours contract rules, the Employment Rights Act has introduced a significant new layer of obligations for small businesses – and managing them accurately requires expertise.
Construction & Trade Services
Another sector worth flagging is Construction & Trade Services, which posted wage growth of 23.4% YoY – the highest of any sector that we have data for – against employment growth of 6.2% YoY. With moderate hiring but surging pay, the pattern points to an acute shortage of skilled tradespeople, with employers pushing up wages to hold onto the workers they have.
The Sectors Under Pressure
Retail, Hospitality & Tourism
Retail, Hospitality & Tourism is up 2.6% MoM in March, but that monthly uptick sits against an annual picture of -1.0% YoY employment – meaning the sector has fewer workers than it did a year ago. With wage growth of 14.3% YoY, the sector is dealing with similar circumstances to Construction and Healthcare: pay is rising not because the sector is expanding, but because employers are working harder to hold onto the people they have.
The -1.6% MoM drop in wages at the same time as a monthly employment rise suggests the new roles coming in are lower-paid, which adds another layer of complexity to an already difficult picture. It’s a point Stuart Machin, Chief Executive of Marks and Spencer, put bluntly earlier this year: with business rates, packaging taxes, energy tariffs, National Insurance rises and new regulations all bearing down at once, employers are being dissuaded from offering even a shift or two a week. Writing for the One Million Futures Substack, he said: “We’re at risk of not only disincentivising the Saturday job, but banning it.”
Healthcare & Community Services
Healthcare & Community Services had a strong March, with employment growth coming in at 5.7% MoM. But that single month sits against a year in which the sector lost workers overall, down -5.8% YoY. The wage picture adds another layer: at 15.3% YoY growth, pay in Healthcare is rising sharply – not because the sector is expanding and competing for new talent, but because, much like Construction, employers are paying more to keep the people they already have.
The wider healthcare picture provides some context. Resident doctors in NHS England recently entered their 15th round of strikes since a pay dispute with the government began in September 2024 – with the BMA rejecting a 3.5% pay offer as recently as March 2026. Although NHS doctors aren’t included in this data, a healthcare workforce this unsettled has consequences beyond the NHS. Private and SME providers are hiring from the same pool of workers, and when morale is low and pay disputes drag on, that pool gets smaller.
Education & Training
Education & Training presents a similar tension: 10.3% MoM growth – the highest of any sector in March – but -3.2% YoY. As analysis of the full-time and part-time jobs market shows, the growth Education is producing is almost entirely in part-time and casual roles, while full-time positions continue to decline. For a sector already in annual contraction, casual roles create activity, but not necessarily stability. What the sector needs is sustained full-time growth, and the March figures, for all their headline strength, don’t quite deliver on that front.
Where Jobseekers Have the Most to Gain
Not every sector that’s growing is equally worth moving into, and not every sector with rising wages is actually hiring. Manufacturing, Transport & Logistics is the clearest win for jobseekers right now – it’s one of the few sectors where hiring and pay are both moving in the right direction at the same time. Banking and Finance has the most sheer volume of opportunity, even if the pay picture is less clear. Construction is a different case: the doors aren’t opening for new entrants, but for anyone who already has the relevant skills, the leverage is considerable.
What the Data Tells Us
Taken together, the sectors gaining ground are doing so for reasons that have more to do with structural necessity than a broad economic upturn. Compliance work doesn’t go away when times get tight, skilled trades are in short supply regardless of the macro picture, and financial services firms that deferred hiring for most of 2025 had to move eventually. The growth is real, but it’s concentrated.
What the harder-hit sectors share is a version of the same problem: workforces under strain, with pay and conditions that aren’t keeping up with what workers can get elsewhere, or roles being filled on a casual basis because committing to full-time hiring feels like too much of a risk right now. For small businesses operating in those sectors, the more pressing question isn’t when conditions will improve but how to hold onto the people they already have.
