12th August 2025 – (London) Britain’s labour market is showing further signs of slowing, with job vacancies and payrolled employees declining, while the unemployment rate remains at a four-year high, according to official data released on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 5.8% fall in job vacancies during the May-July period, with the total dropping to 718,000. Declines were recorded in 16 of the 18 industry sectors tracked by the ONS, with arts, entertainment, and recreation seeing the sharpest reduction, down 17.6% compared to the previous quarter.
Payrolled employee numbers also declined, dropping by 149,000 (0.5%) in June compared to the same period last year and by 26,000 (0.1%) from the previous month. Early estimates for July place the total number of payrolled workers at 30.3 million.
“The UK’s post-pandemic labour market was red hot, but that period is officially over,” commented Hannah Slaughter, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation. “The labour market is loose and getting looser, having lost 165,000 payrolled jobs over the past eight months.”
The unemployment rate for the April-June period held steady at 4.7%, marking a four-year high. Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, remarked, “These latest figures collectively indicate a continued cooling of the labour market.” Stephen Evans, chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, highlighted that the largest job losses occurred in retail and hospitality. “These sectors are also experiencing the strongest pay growth. It’s likely that a weak economy, rising minimum wages, and higher employer costs are contributing to job losses,” he explained.