Salaries increased in 2025 in all key industries, but not uniformly, the most being felt by candidates in IT, with an increase of 14%, Administrative & Secretarial, with 13%, Beauty & Wellness, with 12% and Construction, with 11%, shows an analysis carried out by BestJobs. For many of the applicants, these wage adjustments came as a partial compensation for a more difficult context: either high competition or high workload in industries with a shortage of personnel.
«From the perspective of candidates, 2025 was a year of contrasts. Some faced fierce competition and slower recruitment processes, while others had more options, but also greater benefits from employers. Specialization has become a decisive criterion for stability and evolution,» said Cristina Ceban, Brand Manager bestjobs. For 2026, bestjobs estimates indicate that these differences will continue to widen. Candidates with specialized skills will have access to more competitive salaries and more stable opportunities, while generalist profiles will feel increasing pressure for reconversion, upskilling or professional flexibility. For candidates, the labor market is taking shape more and more clearly as a space where adaptability, specialization and continuous learning make the difference between stagnation and professional progress. Overall, 2025 was the year of extremes on the labor market: while in some sectors virtual queues were formed for employment, in others the candidates dictated the rules. For IT candidates, 2025 meant extremely high competition. The limited number of available positions led to a record level of applications, reaching over 160 applicants for a single job. The recruitment process has become a marathon of endurance, with longer waiting times, more interview stages and a much more rigorous selection. However, IT salaries continued to rise, not as an effect of volume demand, but as part of retention, seniority and specialization strategies. Companies have invested more in keeping valuable specialists and in key roles, where the lack of critical skills would have had a direct impact on the business. In terms of application volume, two other popular fields in 2025 were Business Services, which surpassed the 1 million application threshold, and manufacturing industries, which attracted over 700,000 applications, confirming the high pressure in the labor market and the increased interest in fields perceived as more stable. In parallel, the situation looked completely different in Retail, Construction, Logistics and Health. Here, the staff shortage has created more employment opportunities, but also increased pressure on existing employees. In these fields, companies had to adjust salaries to attract and retain people, and candidates had more bargaining power, especially those with relevant experience.
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