The UK’s labour market in 2025 is at a crossroads. While more people than ever are actively searching for remote and flexible work, employers appear to be pulling back. This growing disconnect is changing job competition, influencing workplace policy, and signalling broader changes in how, and where, Britons want to work.

These findings are drawn from internal data.*

The UK’s Appetite for Remote Work Keeps Growing While Supply Shrink

In the first half of 2025, jobseekers in the UK searched for remote roles at a volume that was 20% higher than in late 2024, and over 140% higher compared to the same period in 2023 – the strongest growth seen in recent years.

Interest peaked at the start of the year, reaching its highest monthly level in over two years. Meanwhile, the average number of remote job postings fell sharply – down more than 41% compared to early 2024, and over 51% lower than in the first half of 2023. 

Remote Work Across the UK Is Far From Evenly Distributed

Remote work might transcend geography in principle, but in practice, location still shapes both access and opportunity.

Jooble’s regional data for the first half of 2025 reveals stark mismatches between supply and demand in certain areas – with some cities seeing high job availability but limited local search activity, and others showing strong demand with few opportunities.

Bolton stands out as an exception, offering one of the highest volumes of remote roles among smaller cities, but generating relatively low search interest locally.

Meanwhile, London remains the UK’s remote work capital, leading the country both in search interest and in the number of listings. Other major cities like Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds also show strong demand – though in many cases, search volume exceeds job availability by a significant margin.

Smaller towns like Ashton-under-Lyne and Altrincham, meanwhile, posted a substantial number of remote roles but saw little to no jobseeker activity, underscoring a geographic disconnect in awareness or access.

These geographic imbalances – both in oversupply and undersupply – point to a fragmented remote work ecosystem, where infrastructure, digital skills, and employer practices vary significantly by location.

Tech and Management Roles Drive the Remote Market

Data shows that IT continues to dominate the remote job market, making up around one-third of all remote roles posted in early 2025.

Management and commercial functions – including sales and marketing – also contribute significantly, while legal roles have become increasingly digitalised, forming a sizable segment of remote-friendly roles.

These concentrations highlight that remote work is largely accessible to professionals in strategic, analytical, and digital roles, while those in hands-on or frontline occupations face more limitations.

Hybrid work: Interest grows, and employers are catching on

While remote work continues to dominate jobseeker interest, hybrid roles are gradually gaining traction among UK workers – and even more rapidly among employers.

Jooble data shows that searches for hybrid roles rose sharply in early 2025 – up 160% compared to late 2024. Although interest cooled slightly in the second quarter, it remained noticeably higher than the previous year’s average.

On the employer side, hybrid job postings surged during the first half of the year – growing by over 70% between January and April. Although numbers dipped slightly in May and June, they remained well above baseline levels from early 2024.

Alisa Lagovska, Recruitment Team Leader at Jooble, shared her thoughts: “The hybrid model is no longer a compromise – it’s a strategic response to balancing employee autonomy with business effectiveness. It helps maintain team cohesion, accelerates decision-making, and strengthens company culture – not through rigid control, but through trust and structure. That’s why more and more organisations are adopting two-to-three-day office patterns, especially in teams where cross-functional collaboration and joint decision-making are essential.”

This reflects a shifting employer strategy: balancing remote flexibility with in-office engagement. While hybrid models have not yet captured mass jobseeker enthusiasm, they may serve as a bridge between workforce expectations and organisational realities.

Flexible Hours Jobs Struggle to Sustain Growth

Flexible-hours roles, covering part-time, adjustable schedules, and outcome-based jobs, continue to develop as a small but active corner of the UK job market. While not yet rivalling remote or hybrid work in scale, the format has shown moments of sharp and volatile interest from both jobseekers and employers.

According to Jooble data, flexible-hours roles saw a spike in jobseeker interest at the start of 2025, with search volume increasing by 55% compared to the previous quarter. This spike may reflect a combination of post-holiday mindset shifts, where workers reassess work-life balance; cost-of-living pressures prompting people to seek secondary or adaptable income streams; and public discourse around flexible work legislation, which gained visibility in late 2024.

However, by Q2 2025, search volume declined – returning closer to Q4 levels. The cooling trend suggests that while the appetite for flexibility remains, it may fluctuate with seasonal routines, household economics, or awareness peaks, rather than indicating a consistent structural shift like remote work.

The employer-side data reflects this volatility even more dramatically. Job postings peaked dramatically at the start of the year, then dropped sharply in the following months. A brief rebound occurred in April, but by June, volumes had fallen again to well below the January peak.

This swing suggests that flexible roles may be project-based, seasonal, or highly sector-specific – common in industries like education, events, retail, and customer service, where employers scale workforces according to campaign cycles or school terms, rather than long-term staffing strategies.

What It Means for 2025 and Beyond

The data indicates a UK workforce increasingly aligned around autonomy, location flexibility, and personal work-life balance. However, the market is not yet structured to fully accommodate these preferences.

• Jobseekers face rising competition and limited remote opportunities.
• Employers risk missing out on top talent if they don’t adapt to flexible models.
• Regions outside major cities may continue to experience an accessibility gap without greater investment in remote-friendly infrastructure or upskilling.

Will Employers Keep Up with Jobseekers?

The UK’s employment landscape is evolving, but not at the same pace for everyone. Remote work is no longer a pandemic-induced trend – it’s a mainstream expectation. As demand outstrips supply and hybrid formats gain momentum, 2025 could mark an inflection point in how flexibility is prioritised in the UK workplace.

Whether businesses fully embrace this shift or fall behind may determine who retains, and who loses, the next generation of skilled talent.

Data gathered by Jooble*