UK job vacancies tumble across the board

The latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate that the UK jobs market is starting to cool down. Job openings have fallen by 5.8% to 718,000 between May to July across almost all industries. This decline suggests that some firms are hesitant to hire new workers or replace those who have left.

Additionally, initial estimates show a decrease in the number of payrolled employees between April and June, with the biggest drop seen in the hospitality and retail sectors.

Liz McKeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS, noted that the “latest figures point to a continued cooling of the labour market.” Despite this trend, the slowdown is not as severe as some experts had predicted.

Average wage growth has remained steady at 5%, while the unemployment rate has stayed at 4.7%. The estimated decrease in the number of people on payrolls, down by 8,000 between June and July, indicates a gradual cooling of the job market, according to former Bank of England policymaker Andrew Sentence.

Sentence pointed out that there are still over 30 million people on employer payrolls in the UK, highlighting the resilience of the labor market despite the recent decline in job openings and payrolled employees.