Closing Out 2025: What Durham’s Labour Market Is Telling Us
As 2025 comes to a close, Durham’s labour market continues to reflect a period of adjustment, not crisis, but change.
Throughout the year, the Durham Workforce Authority (DWA) tracked local labour-market conditions through the employer survey, released our 2024 workforce survey report, published quarterly labour-market insights, and conducted ongoing analysis of job postings, skills demand, and workforce trends. What emerged was a clearer picture of a labour market shaped by shifting employer needs, evolving job-seeker expectations, and increasing pressure to align skills with opportunity.
This work reinforced a core principle of DWA’s mandate: good decisions start with good data, but real impact happens when that data is used.
A Labour Market in Transition
In 2025, employers across Durham continued to face uneven hiring conditions. Some sectors experienced persistent difficulty finding talent, while others saw increased competition for available roles. Wage growth remained uneven across occupations, and demand for specific technical and transferable skills continued to change rapidly.
For job seekers, this meant navigating a labour market where opportunities still existed but often required clearer insight, stronger alignment, and more targeted job-search strategies. For service providers and educators, it highlighted the importance of responding quickly to emerging trends rather than relying on outdated assumptions.
These realities made one thing clear: local context matters.
The Data Walk: Making Labour-Market Information Accessible
This year’s Durham Workforce Data Walk brought local labour-market data out of reports and into conversation.
By organizing insights into thematic stations covering job demand, workforce trends, employer challenges, and emerging risks, the 2025 Data Walk created space for shared understanding. Employers, service providers, educators, and community partners could see how their lived experiences aligned with the data and where gaps remain.
More importantly, the Data Walk reinforced that labour-market data is not just about numbers, it’s about people, planning, and practical response.
Turning Insight Into Tools That Work
Throughout 2025, DWA continued to focus on translating labour-market insight into practical, accessible tools for the community.
Data-informed enhancements to Jobs First Durham (JFD), helping job seekers better understand where jobs are being posted, which occupations are in demand, and what skills employers are looking for. Employers and service providers used local insights to refine hiring strategies, tailor programming, and support people more effectively as they navigate work and training decisions.
This approach reflects DWA’s role as a connector, ensuring that labour-market information is usable, local, and relevant.
Looking Ahead to 2026
As we move into 2026, uncertainty will continue to shape the labour market. Economic conditions will evolve, technology will influence how work is done, and workforce pressures will remain.
What will not change is the need for clear, local, evidence-based information and tools that help people act on it.
In the year ahead, we encourage job seekers, employers, and service providers across Durham to make full use of Jobs First Durham:
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Explore the Jobs Board and Job Map to see where opportunities exist locally
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Use the Resume Builder and Cover Letter Generator to align applications with employer expectations
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Access the Career Library and Skills Demand insights to make informed decisions about training, job search, and career pathways
As always, DWA remains committed to supporting a labour market that works better for everyone in Durham, informed by data, strengthened through collaboration, and focused on real-world impact.
Thank you to all those who contributed to DWA’s research, attended the Data Walk, completed surveys, and engaged with our tools throughout 2025. We look forward to continuing this work together in 2026.