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A new study from job search engine Adzuna.co.uk has revealed over 6,000 Christmas jobs are still available in the UK, an impressive 50% increase on last year, as employers struggle to cope with the festive rush. The big British Retailers are hiring almost 5% extra staff this winter, amounting to thousands of temporary roles flooding the market, and many smaller employers continue to seek additional support for the festive season.

Key Christmas Jobs Data:

The largest proportion of this year’s vacancies fall in the Hospitality, Logistics and Sales sectors. As of the 3rd December 2013 there are still 875 Catering, 707 Warehouse, & 640 Sales vacancies waiting to be filled around the country.

Topping the Christmas recruitment charts once again this year are the Royal Mail and Sainsbury’s, with well over 35,000 positions (most of which have now been filled) being created between them, a 15% rise on last year’s recruitment drive. Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and online retailer Amazon are also among the top recruiters ahead of the predicted festive shopping sprees.

London and the South continue to be vacancy hot-spots, playing host to almost 40% of the available roles in the UK. The lowest number of Christmas jobs are in the North East, with just 2.7% of the vacancies based in the area.

This Christmas period bring with it some extremely lucrative opportunities as well. On-call Doctors, Event Managers and Christmas Day Drivers can demand an eye-watering £60 per hour this December. At the other end of the spectrum, Turkey Pluckers, Bar Staff and Gift Wrappers are among the worst paid, scraping by on minimum wage.

Those looking for something different this Christmas can choose from myriad of weird and wonderful vacancies this December. Jobs as “Reindeer Display Handlers”, “Christmas Present Demonstrators” and “Festive Storytellers” are all on offer this year and are paying in the region of £8 per hour.

Andrew Hunter, Co-Founder of Adzuna, commented, “With widespread predictions of a record-breaking Christmas for the retail industry and beyond, it is not surprising to see the big recruiters hiring ever greater numbers of temporary employees over this month. Jobseekers looking for extra cash this Christmas should head to the South of England where the vast majority of the opportunities lie.”

Top Christmas Jobs by Sector:

Job Sector

Average Salary

Number of Christmas Jobs

Hospitality & Catering Jobs

£8.63 per hour

875

Logistics/

Warehousing Jobs

£6.31 per hour

707

Sales Jobs

£8.38 per hour

640

Retail Jobs

£7.13 per hour

527

Customer Service Jobs

£6.50 per hour

457

 

Overall Top 10 Christmas Employers*:

 

Company

Total Number of Xmas Jobs

1

The Royal Mail

21,000

2

Sainsburys

16,000

3

Amazon

15,000

4

Marks & Spencers

12,000

5

Argos

12,000

6

Debenhams

12,000

7

Tesco

10,000

8

Boots

7,000

9

Dixons

3,500

10

Poundland

2,500

*Note that these numbers are the total number additional staff these companies have been hiring for this Christmas. This is not the total number of live vacancies at these companies.

Best Paying Xmas Jobs:

Job Title

Pay (per day)

Locum GP

£850

Emergency Nurses

£770

Christmas Day Driver

£750

Lead Christmas App Developer

£550

Worst Paying Xmas Jobs:

Job Title

Pay

Christmas Card Sorter

£6.31 per hour

Christmas Care Workers

£6.31 per hour

Gift Wrappers

£6.50 per hour

Festive Waiting Staff – Silver Service

£6.50 per hour

Customer Service Stars

£6.75 per hour

Weird and Wonderful Christmas 2013 Jobs:

Job Title

Location

Average Pay

Reindeer Display Handler

Chester

£8 per hour

Christmas Present Demonstrator

London

Competitive Salary

Christmas Carol Storyteller

London

Competitive Salary

Turkey Plucker

Leicestershire

£6.31 per hour

Christmas Wreath Makers

West London

£9 per hour

Top Regions for Christmas Jobs:

Region

Number of Jobs

Average Pay

London

1,348

£94 per day

South East

1,146

£79 per day

South West

584

£75 per day

Eastern England

574

£71 per day

North West

521

£70 per day