Tue, 12 Aug 2025

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 UK jobs market cools as vacancies fall

Data suggests companies are not recruiting or are holding off replacing people who have left.

* Job openings fell by 5.8% to 718,000 between May and July.
* The number of people on payrolls dropped by 8,000 between June and July.
* Average wage growth remained at 5%.
* The unemployment rate was unmoved at 4.7%.
* Vacancies were at their lowest level since the three months to April 2021, when the UK was dealing with the effects of the Covid pandemic.
* Outside the pandemic, the last time that vacancies were lower was in the three months to January 2015.
* The number of employees on payroll has now fallen in 10 of the last 12 months, with these falls concentrated in hospitality and retail.
* Job vacancies have continued to fall, driven by fewer opportunities in these industries.
* Firms giving notice of redundancies was "relatively subdued" in July.
* The unemployment rate remained at a four-year-high between April and June.
* A forecast suggests that the Bank of England will cut interest rates one more time this year, with borrowing costs falling from 4% to 3.75% in November.
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