Vacancies and jobs in the UK: August 2025

• Labour market overview, UK

• Average weekly earnings in Great Britain

• Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, UK

• Employment in the UK

• The estimated number of vacancies in the UK fell by 44,000 (5.8%) on the quarter, to 718,000 in May to July 2025.

• This is the 37th consecutive period where vacancy numbers have dropped compared with the previous three months, with vacancies decreasing in 16 of the 18 industry sectors.

• Total estimated vacancies were down by 145,000 (16.8%) in May to July 2025 from the level of a year ago, and 77,000 (9.7%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) January to March 2020 level.

• The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 2.3 in April to June 2025; this is up from 2.1 in the previous quarter (January to March 2025).

The estimated number of vacancies fell by 44,000 (5.8%) to 718,000 in May to July 2025. Vacancy numbers have now been falling continually for more than three years, with the total number of vacancies decreasing by an estimated 582,000 since its peak in March to May 2022. Feedback from our Vacancy Survey suggests some firms may not be recruiting new workers or replacing workers who have left.

Total estimated vacancies are now 77,000 (9.7%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic January to March 2020 level.

The headline vacancy estimates are based on three-month averages, which naturally involve some time lag. We provided insights into trends in July 2025 in our Dataset X06: Single month vacancies estimates (see Section 7: Data sources and quality). We advise caution when comparing data sources because the single-month data are not seasonally adjusted.

Further insights are provided in our Labour demand volumes by Standard Occupation Classification (SOC 2020), UK dataset, which includes official statistics in development sourced from Textkernel data. These estimates will be updated regularly as part of our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators bulletins. We advise caution when using these alternative data sources because the data are not seasonally adjusted or directly comparable.

The unemployment-to-vacancy ratio is a measure of labour market tightness. It shows how many unemployed people there are for each available unfilled job. An increase in the unemployment-to-vacancy ratio implies that the labour market is less tight, as there are more available workers to fill those vacant jobs.

The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 2.3 in April to June 2025. This is up from 2.1 in the previous quarter (January to March 2025), and up from 1.7 in the same period a year ago. The recent quarterly increase is because of the decline of vacancies and an increase in unemployment in the latest quarter.

The estimated total number of vacancies decreased by 5.8% from the previous quarter, falling in 16 out of the 18 industry sectors. The largest percentage decrease in vacancies was 17.6% in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector. The largest volume decrease in vacancies was in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector, which fell by 10,000 vacancies on the quarter. This was followed by the accommodation and food services sector, which fell by 7,000 vacancies.

Total vacancies decreased by 145,000 (16.8%) when comparing May to July 2025 with the same period last year. There were declines in 16 of the 18 industry sectors. The industry with the largest percentage decrease in vacancies was the manufacturing industry, which was down by 26.6%.

The total estimated number of vacancies is 77,000 (9.7%) below its January to March 2020 pre-pandemic level. There are 12 industry sectors where the latest vacancies estimates are below pre-pandemic levels (by a combined total of 95,000 vacancies). The largest level decrease relative to pre-pandemic levels is in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles, which has 37,000 fewer vacancies than its pre-pandemic level.

The estimated number of vacancies decreased on the quarter in all five industry size bands. The largest quarterly decrease in vacancies was in businesses with 10 to 49 employees, which was down 14,000 (11.7%) vacancies.

The estimated number of vacancies decreased over the year in all industry size bands. The largest percentage decrease in vacancies was for businesses with one to nine employees, which decreased by 35,000 (24.4%). Early estimates suggest that all size bands are now below their pre-pandemic level, with the 10 to 49 employed size band now 1,000 vacancies below its pre-pandemic level.

Our workforce jobs (WFJ) estimates are published every three months. Our latest estimates for March 2025 were published in June 2025. WFJ estimates are provided from various sources, which are outlined in Section 7: Data sources and quality.

The estimated number of WFJ increased to 37.1 million in the UK in March 2025, and continues to be at a historically high level, as described in our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: June 2025 bulletin. This is a rise of 187,000 (0.5%) since December 2024. The quarterly increase was largely caused by an increase of 120,000 (0.4%) in employee jobs and 70,000 (1.6%) in self-employment jobs. There was a fall in government-supported trainees of 2,000 (4.0%), and HM Forces remained broadly unchanged.

The estimated number of WFJ increased on the year by 304,000 (0.8%). They continue to be at a historically high level, following a largely upward trend since September 2020. They are 1.5 million (4.2%) above their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level.

Most industries saw an increase in WFJ. There were increases in estimates across 15 of the 20 industry sectors between March 2024 and March 2025. The industry with the largest annual increases in WFJ was human health and social work, which was up by 166,000 jobs (3.3%).

The number of WFJ increased in 12 of the 20 industry sectors on the quarter. The industry with the largest volume increase was human health and social work activities, which was up 76,000 (1.5%) since December 2024.

Vacancies

Vacancies are positions for which employers are actively seeking recruits from outside of their business or organisation. The estimates are based on our Vacancy Survey, a survey of employers designed to provide estimates of the stock of vacancies across the economy, excluding agriculture, forestry, and fishing (a small sector for which the collection of estimates would not be practical). For more information, see Section 11: Vacancies in our Guide to labour market statistics methodology.

Jobs

A job is an activity performed for an employer or customer by a worker in exchange for payment, usually in cash, or in kind, or both. The number of jobs is not the same as the number of people in employment. This is because a person can have more than one job. The number of jobs is the sum of employee jobs from employer surveys, self-employment jobs from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), those in HM Forces and government-supported trainees. The number of people in employment is measured by the LFS. These estimates are available in our Employment in the UK bulletins. For more information, see Section 10: Jobs in our Guide to labour market statistics methodology.

A more detailed glossary is available.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in April 2022. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".

Revisions to workforce jobs

Our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: June 2025 bulletin included revisions of workforce jobs estimates back to June 2023. Revisions are a result of taking on updated sources of additional information. This is an annual process that usually takes place in December each year, as outlined in our Workforce jobs quality and methodology information (QMI). These revisions were delayed so we could take on reweighted estimates from the Labour Force survey (LFS), as mentioned in our Revisions to workforce jobs, UK: December 2024 article.

Discontinuities in workforce jobs

We have reinstated reweighted LFS estimates into our monthly publication from 17 December 2024, as stated on 3 December 2024 in our Impact of reweighting on LFS key indicators: December 2024 article. The reweighting exercise creates a discontinuity in total workforce jobs, employee jobs, and self-employment jobs between December 2018 and March 2019, where there will be a step change. Users should avoid making comparisons with estimates from before March 2019.

Ongoing challenges with response rates and levels mean that LFS-based labour market statistics will be badged as official statistics in development. We advise caution when using the data, until further review. For more information please see Section 11: Data sources and quality in our Employment in the UK: June 2025 bulletin.

Important notes

Published data accompanying this release are presented as rounded figures. All changes presented in this bulletin are calculated from unrounded estimates. Therefore, users may calculate slightly different changes when using our accompanying data tables.

Making our published spreadsheets accessible

Following the Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance on releasing statistics in spreadsheets, we will be amending our published tables over the coming months to improve the usability, accessibility and machine readability of our published statistics. To help users change to the new formats, we will be publishing sample versions of a selection of our tables, and where practical, initially publish the tables in both the new and current formats. If you have any questions or comments, please email labour.market@ons.gov.uk.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

Read more about how labour market data sources are affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in our Coronavirus and the effects on UK labour market statistics article.

For a comparison of our labour market data sources and the main differences, read our Comparison of labour market data sources methodology.

Sources

The data in this bulletin come from surveys of businesses. It is not feasible to survey every business in the UK, so these statistics are estimates based on samples, not precise figures.

Vacancies

Estimates of vacancies are obtained from our Vacancy Survey, a survey of employers.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Vacancy Survey QMI.

The Vacancy Survey response rate was 76.7% in July 2025.

Jobs

Estimates of jobs are compiled from a number of sources, including Short-Term Employment Surveys (STES), the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Surveys (QPSES), and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). STES is a group of surveys that collect employment and turnover information from private sector businesses. In December each year, the jobs estimates are "benchmarked" to the latest estimates from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). More information on the reconciliation of jobs estimates is available in our Reconciliation of estimates of jobs, UK: April 2025 article.

STES estimates are drawn for a specified date, early in the last month of each calendar quarter. The March 2020 data were drawn from 13 March 2020, before the start of pandemic social distancing measures.

For more information on how jobs data are measured, please see Section 7: Measuring the data of our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: April 2021 bulletin.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Workforce jobs QMI.

The combined response rate across the Short-Term Employment Surveys was 75.6% in March 2025.

Sampling variability

The sampling variability of the three-month average vacancies level is plus or minus 1.3% of that level expressed as a coefficient of variation, giving a 95% confidence interval for estimates of approximately plus or minus 32,000.

The sampling variability of the three-month average vacancies level for a typical industrial sector is around plus or minus 6% of that level.

Information on the strengths and limitations of this bulletin are available in Section 8: Strengths and limitations of our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: April 2021 bulletin.