Portsmouth escapes national tech hiring downturn with 4% growth

Technology vacancies are declining across the UK, leaving jobseekers with fewer new opportunities as employers scale back recruitment.

However, new analysis by Wolfstone Digital found that Portsmouth moved against the national trend. Advertised technology roles in the city increased from 689 in early 2025 to 718 during the same period in 2026, a rise of 4.2%.

This came despite the total number of job adverts across all occupations in Portsmouth falling by 13.7%. Technology roles consequently grew from 6.7% to 7.7% of the city’s advertised vacancies.

The areas recording the largest tech declines were: Nottingham: 50.3%; Liverpool: 39.6%; Trafford: 38.1%; West Berkshire: 34.1%; Newcastle upon Tyne: 34.0%; Sheffield: 30.1%; Dudley: 25.1%; Birmingham: 23.5%; Reigate and Banstead: 22.1%; Westmorland and Furness: 21.2%.

Adam Woodhead, tech expert at Wolfstone Digital, said: “The wider decline in advertised technology roles suggests that employers are approaching recruitment more cautiously.

“Areas where technology hiring is still growing could benefit from stronger demand for digital skills, but jobseekers should continue demonstrating how their experience can solve practical business problems.”

The analysis compared ONS online job-advert data for January, February, April and May 2025 with the same months in 2026. March was excluded because some figures were suppressed.