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Job market evidence

Youth and community workers

Official occupation SOC 2020 3221, United Kingdom

Keeping it puts it in My Career, where its published evidence is listed beside anything else you keep. It is remembered in this browser only, no account, and nothing about you is stored on our side.

The latest published figures

  • Online advert demand 2,204 adverts observed, May 2026
  • Advertised salary £28,800 median stated, through May 2025
  • Most mentioned requirement 80.5% of adverts, Professional and Interpersonal Competencies, 2025 so far
  • Official vacancies 712,000 all industries, Vacancy Survey, June 2026

Each figure carries the period it describes. They are published on different schedules, so they do not all describe the same moment.

Advertised salary

Evidence through May 2025

Advertised salary evidence through May 2025: £28,800 median.

A UK-wide figure. Advertised salary is not published by area for occupations at this level of detail, so there is no local equivalent of it.

Latest advertised-salary evidence is older than the demand data. The most recent published salary evidence for this measure covers May 2025, where the advert count covers May 2026. It is shown as historical context rather than an estimate of what the role pays now.

Occupations that stated about the same

136 occupations stated a median between £20,000 and £30,000 in May 2025.

Advertised salary, not pay.

More about this figure

Adverts that state a salary are a self-selecting subset of all adverts.

Where this figure comes from
Measure
The median salary stated in online job adverts for this occupation, among adverts that stated one. Advertised, not paid.
Source
ONS, Online job advert salaries (OGL v3.0)
Evidence period
May 2025
Geography
United Kingdom
Occupation grain
SOC 2020 unit group, the most detailed
Comparability
Not applicable, this figure is a single observation, not a comparison.
Limitation
Advertised salary, not pay. Adverts that state a salary are a self-selecting subset of all adverts.
Last read by this site
21 August 2026 When this site last loaded the source, not when the evidence was published.
Source edition
src_049_ons_online_job_advert_salaries@2025-07-16#73e07873fb07
Publisher last saved this file
16 July 2025 The date the file was last saved by its publisher, which is not the same as the date it was released. The evidence period above is what the figure describes.

How advertised salary has changed

Monthly, May 2024 to May 2025

Median advertised salary each month from May 2024 to May 2025, over 13 published periods on the same basis. This is what adverts stated, not what the work pays.

Median advertised salary each month, £27,900 to £28,8006-month average, calculated by this site

The vertical scale starts at the lowest month shown, not at zero, so the shape is visible. The dashed line is an average this site calculates over the published months to make the shape easier to read. ONS does not publish it, it is not a forecast, and it says nothing about whether a month was good or bad.

Show the 13 published monthly figures Hide the 13 published monthly figures
Median advertised salary for Youth and community workers, by month
Month Median advertised salary Publisher revision
May 2024 £28,000 As first published
June 2024 £28,000 As first published
July 2024 £28,000 As first published
August 2024 £27,900 As first published
September 2024 £27,900 As first published
October 2024 £28,000 As first published
November 2024 £28,100 As first published
December 2024 £28,600 As first published
January 2025 £28,700 As first published
February 2025 £28,600 As first published
March 2025 £28,600 As first published
April 2025 £28,700 As first published
May 2025 £28,800 As first published

Advertised salary, not pay.

More about this figure

Adverts that state a salary are a self-selecting subset of all adverts. The published series runs from 2017-01 but only 2024-05 to 2025-05 is shown, because ONS documents changes in which sources it collected from outside that stretch and a difference across one of those is partly a change in the collection.

Where this figure comes from
Measure
The median salary stated in online job adverts for this occupation, among adverts that stated one. Advertised, not paid.
Source
ONS, Online job advert salaries (OGL v3.0)
Evidence period
May 2025
Geography
United Kingdom
Occupation grain
SOC 2020 unit group, the most detailed
Comparability
Comparable
Limitation
Advertised salary, not pay. Adverts that state a salary are a self-selecting subset of all adverts. The published series runs from 2017-01 but only 2024-05 to 2025-05 is shown, because ONS documents changes in which sources it collected from outside that stretch and a difference across one of those is partly a change in the collection.
Last read by this site
21 August 2026 When this site last loaded the source, not when the evidence was published.
Source edition
src_049_ons_online_job_advert_salaries@2025-07-16#73e07873fb07
Publisher last saved this file
16 July 2025 The date the file was last saved by its publisher, which is not the same as the date it was released. The evidence period above is what the figure describes.

Online advert demand

Evidence period: May 2026

2,204 online job adverts were observed in the published measure for May 2026.

Online job adverts observed in an ONS-published measure.

More about this figure

This counts adverts, not vacancies and not positions that exist. ONS recorded roughly 66 percent more adverts than official Vacancy Survey vacancies for the same month.

Where this figure comes from
Measure
The number of new online job adverts ONS observed for this occupation in the period. Adverts, deduplicated upstream by ONS, not vacancies and not positions.
Source
ONS, Online job advert volumes by occupation (OGL v3.0)
Evidence period
May 2026
Geography
Total UK
Occupation grain
SOC 2020 unit group, the most detailed
Comparability
Not applicable, this figure is a single observation, not a comparison.
Limitation
Online job adverts observed in an ONS-published measure. This counts adverts, not vacancies and not positions that exist. ONS recorded roughly 66 percent more adverts than official Vacancy Survey vacancies for the same month.
Last read by this site
21 August 2026 When this site last loaded the source, not when the evidence was published.
Source edition
src_046_ons_labour_demand_volumes_soc2020@2026-07-23#f1fff167d0a0
Publisher last saved this file
23 July 2026 The date the file was last saved by its publisher, which is not the same as the date it was released. The evidence period above is what the figure describes.

How advert demand has changed

Monthly, May 2024 to May 2026

New online job adverts observed each month from May 2024 to May 2026, over 24 published periods on the same basis.

The publisher revised July 2025 to April 2026 after first publishing them, so the figures below are the corrected ones and no single difference is stated across them.

Adverts observed each month, 1,131 to 2,8526-month average, calculated by this site

The vertical scale starts at the lowest month shown, not at zero, so the shape is visible. The dashed line is an average this site calculates over the published months to make the shape easier to read. ONS does not publish it, it is not a forecast, and it says nothing about whether a month was good or bad.

Show the 24 published monthly figures Hide the 24 published monthly figures
New online job adverts observed for Youth and community workers, by month
Month Adverts observed Publisher revision
May 2024 2,852 As first published
June 2024 2,687 As first published
July 2024 2,849 As first published
August 2024 2,433 As first published
September 2024 2,448 As first published
October 2024 2,287 As first published
November 2024 2,154 As first published
December 2024 1,578 As first published
January 2025 2,303 As first published
February 2025 2,485 As first published
March 2025 2,499 As first published
April 2025 2,225 As first published
May 2025 2,714 As first published
June 2025 2,476 As first published
July 2025 2,494 Revised after first publication
August 2025 2,101 Revised after first publication
September 2025 2,426 Revised after first publication
October 2025 2,246 Revised after first publication
November 2025 2,258 Revised after first publication
December 2025 1,131 Revised after first publication
January 2026 2,103 Revised after first publication
February 2026 1,929 Revised after first publication
April 2026 2,170 Revised after first publication
May 2026 2,204 As first published

Online job adverts observed in an ONS-published measure.

More about this figure

This counts adverts, not vacancies and not positions that exist. ONS recorded roughly 66 percent more adverts than official Vacancy Survey vacancies for the same month. No value was published for 2026-03, so that month is absent from the figures below rather than shown as zero. The published series runs from 2017-01 but only 2024-05 to 2026-05 is shown, because ONS documents changes in which sources it collected from outside that stretch and a difference across one of those is partly a change in the collection.

Where this figure comes from
Measure
The number of new online job adverts ONS observed for this occupation in the period. Adverts, deduplicated upstream by ONS, not vacancies and not positions.
Source
ONS, Online job advert volumes by occupation (OGL v3.0)
Evidence period
May 2024
Geography
Total UK
Occupation grain
SOC 2020 unit group, the most detailed
Comparability
Comparable
Limitation
Online job adverts observed in an ONS-published measure. This counts adverts, not vacancies and not positions that exist. ONS recorded roughly 66 percent more adverts than official Vacancy Survey vacancies for the same month. No value was published for 2026-03, so that month is absent from the figures below rather than shown as zero. The published series runs from 2017-01 but only 2024-05 to 2026-05 is shown, because ONS documents changes in which sources it collected from outside that stretch and a difference across one of those is partly a change in the collection.
Last read by this site
21 August 2026 When this site last loaded the source, not when the evidence was published.
Source edition
src_046_ons_labour_demand_volumes_soc2020@2026-07-23#f1fff167d0a0
Publisher last saved this file
23 July 2026 The date the file was last saved by its publisher, which is not the same as the date it was released. The evidence period above is what the figure describes.

Requirements in adverts

Evidence period: 2025, not yet complete

  • Professional and Interpersonal Competencies appeared in 80.5% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Business Operations, Process and Program Management appeared in 79.7% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Healthcare and Life Sciences appeared in 51.4% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Social Sciences appeared in 46.1% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Education and Training appeared in 43.6% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Accounting and Financial Trading and Investment appeared in 41.2% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Information Technology and Programming appeared in 35.4% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Healthcare and Social Services appeared in 33.2% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Recruitment, Payroll and Employee Performance appeared in 33.0% of new online job adverts in 2025.
  • Psychology and Behavioural Health appeared in 28.3% of new online job adverts in 2025.

2025 is not yet covered in full, so these shares sit on a shorter window than the years before them.

A reliable comparison is not available for these periods. Comparability: Not established

The publisher breaks requirements down by occupation for 2025 only; earlier years in the same release cover the whole economy and carry no occupation, so there is no earlier figure for this occupation to compare with.

The share of new online job adverts mentioning this requirement, not a count.

More about this figure

The taxonomy is Textkernel's SCO, which is not SOC.

Where this figure comes from
Measure
The proportion of new online job adverts for this occupation that mentioned this requirement. A share of adverts, not a count of jobs.
Source
ONS, Skills, competencies and job requirements in online adverts (OGL v3.0)
Evidence period
2025 (not yet complete)
Geography
United Kingdom
Occupation grain
SOC 2020 unit group, the most detailed
Comparability
Not applicable, this figure is a single observation, not a comparison.
Limitation
The share of new online job adverts mentioning this requirement, not a count. The taxonomy is Textkernel's SCO, which is not SOC.
Last read by this site
21 August 2026 When this site last loaded the source, not when the evidence was published.
Source edition
src_048_ons_skills_competencies_job_requirements@2025-12-08#e0d4e60d4114
Publisher last saved this file
8 December 2025 The date the file was last saved by its publisher, which is not the same as the date it was released. The evidence period above is what the figure describes.

Where the adverts were placed

Evidence period: May 2026

Adverts by region, with each region's share of the 2,188 placed across the 12 published regions.

North West
297 adverts (13.6%)
South East
295 adverts (13.5%)
London
279 adverts (12.8%)
East of England
244 adverts (11.2%)
West Midlands
195 adverts (8.9%)
Scotland
184 adverts (8.4%)
South West
175 adverts (8.0%)
Yorkshire and The Humber
152 adverts (6.9%)
East Midlands
145 adverts (6.6%)
North East
111 adverts (5.1%)
Wales
63 adverts (2.9%)
Northern Ireland
48 adverts (2.2%)

How this compares with a year earlier

East Midlands
154 in May 2025, 145 in May 2026
East of England
292 in May 2025, 244 in May 2026
London
382 in May 2025, 279 in May 2026
North East
112 in May 2025, 111 in May 2026
North West
353 in May 2025, 297 in May 2026
Northern Ireland
56 in May 2025, 48 in May 2026
Scotland
178 in May 2025, 184 in May 2026
South East
422 in May 2025, 295 in May 2026
South West
266 in May 2025, 175 in May 2026
Wales
106 in May 2025, 63 in May 2026
West Midlands
180 in May 2025, 195 in May 2026
Yorkshire and The Humber
189 in May 2025, 152 in May 2026

Online job adverts observed in an ONS-published measure.

More about this figure

This counts adverts, not vacancies and not positions that exist. ONS recorded roughly 66 percent more adverts than official Vacancy Survey vacancies for the same month. Adverts are counted against the location stated in the advert, which is not necessarily where the work happens. These are the two counts ONS published for this region, and a difference between two published counts is not a rate of change. Regions are published separately from the UK figure and do not sum to it, so a regional movement is not a share of a national one.

Adverts are counted against the location stated in the advert, which is not necessarily where the work happens: a remote or hybrid role advertised from a head office counts to that office's region.

More about this figure

Regions are published separately from the UK figure and do not sum to it — these 12 regions total 2,188 against a UK figure of 2,204.

Where this figure comes from
Measure
The number of new online job adverts ONS observed for this occupation in the period. Adverts, deduplicated upstream by ONS, not vacancies and not positions.
Source
ONS, Online job advert volumes by occupation (OGL v3.0)
Evidence period
May 2026
Geography
North West
Occupation grain
SOC 2020 unit group, the most detailed
Comparability
Not applicable, this figure is a single observation, not a comparison.
Limitation
Adverts are counted against the location stated in the advert, which is not necessarily where the work happens: a remote or hybrid role advertised from a head office counts to that office's region. Regions are published separately from the UK figure and do not sum to it — these 12 regions total 2,188 against a UK figure of 2,204.
Last read by this site
21 August 2026 When this site last loaded the source, not when the evidence was published.
Source edition
src_046_ons_labour_demand_volumes_soc2020@2026-07-23#f1fff167d0a0
Publisher last saved this file
23 July 2026 The date the file was last saved by its publisher, which is not the same as the date it was released. The evidence period above is what the figure describes.

Official vacancy context

Evidence period: June 2026

For context, the official Vacancy Survey estimated 712 thousand vacancies across all industries in June 2026. This measures vacancies, not adverts.

Official Vacancy Survey estimate.

More about this figure

This measures vacancies, unlike the advert measures beside it, and the two must not be combined.

Where this figure comes from
Measure
The official ONS Vacancy Survey estimate of vacancies across all industries. A survey of employers, measuring vacancies rather than adverts.
Source
ONS, Vacancy Survey, VACS02 (OGL v3.0)
Evidence period
June 2026
Geography
United Kingdom
Occupation grain
None, this figure covers all industries, not this occupation.
Comparability
Not applicable, this figure is a single observation, not a comparison.
Limitation
Official Vacancy Survey estimate. This measures vacancies, unlike the advert measures beside it, and the two must not be combined.
Last read by this site
21 August 2026 When this site last loaded the source, not when the evidence was published.
Source edition
src_050_ons_vacancy_survey_vacs02@2026-07-16#3edbbd56a990
Publisher last saved this file
16 July 2026 The date the file was last saved by its publisher, which is not the same as the date it was released. The evidence period above is what the figure describes.

Job titles in this occupation

SOC 2020 coding index, the official classification

60 of the 66 job titles the official SOC 2020 index codes into this occupation, in alphabetical order. This is how the classification assigns a title, not a measure of which titles employers use or how often they appear.

Titles marked as shared also code into other occupations. Where the index gives a qualifier, it is shown in brackets, because that qualifier is what places the title here.

Official occupation context

SOC 2020, the official classification

How SOC 2020 places this occupation, from the broadest group down. This is the official classification, not evidence from job adverts, and it does not change when advertising does.

  1. Major group Associate professional occupations 3
  2. Sub-major group Health and social care associate professionals 32
  3. Minor group Welfare and Housing Associate Professionals 322
  4. Unit group Youth and community workers 3221

SOC 2020, the same minor group

The official classification files this occupation under “Welfare and Housing Associate Professionals”. These are the others in it that have published evidence, a starting point for looking, not a suggestion that the work transfers between them.

Occupations by advertised salary

Evidence period: May 2025

£30,000 – £40,000

144 occupations stated a median in this range in May 2025.

Showing 60 of 144. Narrow the range to see the rest.

Advertised salary is what adverts stated, for the adverts that named a figure at all. It is not what the work pays.

Evidence periods

Each measure below is published on its own schedule, so they do not all describe the same moment.

Online advert demand
May 2026
How advert demand has changed
May 2026
Where the adverts were placed
May 2026
Advertised salary
May 2025
How advertised salary has changed
May 2025
Requirements in adverts
2025period not yet complete
Official vacancy context
June 2026

What this page cannot tell you

  • How many jobs are available. These are counts of online adverts in published statistics, and one advert can be several positions, a speculative opportunity or a training route.
  • Which employers are advertising, or any individual advert.
  • What anyone is paid. Advertised salary is not pay.
  • Whether an occupation is a good choice for you.
How this works and where the data comes from