Vacancies and jobs in the UK: December 2024

• Labour market overview

• Average weekly earnings in Great Britain

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

• Employment in the UK

• Public sector employment, UK

• The estimated number of vacancies was 818,000 in the UK in September to November 2024; this is a decrease of 31,000, or 3.7%, from June to August 2024.

• Vacancy numbers decreased on the quarter for the 29th consecutive period in September to November 2024, with vacancies decreasing in 9 of the 18 industry sectors.

• Total estimated vacancies were down by 136,000 (14.3%) in September to November 2024 from the level of a year ago; however, they remained 22,000 (2.8%) above their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic January to March 2020 levels.

• The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 1.8 in August to October 2024, up by 0.1 from 1.7 in the previous quarter (May to July 2024).

• The estimated number of workforce jobs was 36.8 million in September 2024; this is an increase of 73,000 (0.2%) from June 2024, with increases in both employee jobs and self-employment jobs of 41,000 (0.1%) and 27,000 (0.6%), respectively.

• The estimated number of workforce jobs was up by 364,000 (1.0%) in September 2024, from the level of a year ago, with human health and social work activities showing the largest increase of 224,000 (4.6%).

The series of quarterly decreases in vacancy numbers continued in September to November 2024 and has reduced for the 29th consecutive period. The total number of vacancies has declined by an estimated 486,000, since its peak in March to May 2022.

The headline vacancy estimates are based on three-month averages, which naturally involve some time lag. We provide insights into trends in November 2024 in our Dataset X06: Single month vacancies estimates (see Section 7: Data sources and quality. We advise caution when comparing data sources, as the single-month data are not seasonally adjusted.

The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 1.8 in July to September 2024. This is up by 0.1 from 1.7 in the previous quarter (May to July 2024).

The estimated total number of vacancies decreased by 3.7% from the previous quarter, declining in 9 of the 18 industry sectors. The largest percentage decrease was in manufacturing, at 11.3%, followed by construction, which fell by 11.1%.

The estimated number of vacancies decreased on the quarter by 31,000 to 818,000 in September to November 2024. The largest decrease was in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which was down by 11,000 vacancies.

When comparing September to November 2024 with the same time last year, total vacancies decreased by 136,000 (14.3%), with declines in 15 of the 18 industry sectors. The industries that decreased the most were wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, down by 35,000 vacancies, and human health and social work activities, down by 31,000 vacancies.

The total estimated number of vacancies remains 22,000 (2.8%) above its January to March 2020 pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level. The two industry sectors that are the highest above their January to March 2020 levels are public admin & defence; compulsory social security, and education, which have a combined 26,000 vacancies above this level.

Four industry sectors are currently below pre-pandemic levels, by a combined total of 49,000 vacancies. These include wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which is 34,000 below its pre-pandemic level.

Growth decreased in all industry size bands on the quarter. The largest decrease was in businesses with one to nine employees, at 8.2%. All industry size bands also decreased over the year. The largest decrease of 16.6% was also in the smallest size band. The largest size band - businesses with over 2,500 employees - remains the only size band below its January to March 2020 pre-pandemic level.

Workforce jobs (WFJ) estimates are provided from various sources. Estimates of employee jobs in the private sector are drawn from business surveys relating to a reference date of 13 September 2024. Estimates of self-employment jobs are drawn from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which covers a three-month period from the start of August 2024 to the end of October 2024.

In December of each year, regular adjustments are made to Workforce Jobs (WFJ) estimates to improve quality and coherence with other Office for National Statistics (ONS) business surveys, resulting in revisions to the series. Adjustments include benchmarking the short-term employee jobs series to the latest estimates from the annual Business Register and Employment Survey, incorporating revisions to Public Sector Employment estimates, Northern Ireland employee jobs estimates, government-supported trainees (GST) administrative data, and Short-Term Employment Surveys estimates, and changes to seasonal parameters following a seasonal adjustment review.

Workforce jobs incorporate the reweighted LFS data from March 2019 onwards in this bulletin. 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. Therefore, comparisons with estimates from before March 2019 should be avoided. The LFS estimates are official statistics in development.

More information can be found in our Revisions to workforce jobs, UK: December 2024 article and our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators: December 2024 article.

Estimated workforce jobs increased to 36.8 million in the UK in September 2024. This is a rise of 73,000 (0.2%) since June 2024. Increases of 41,000 (0.1%) in employee jobs and 27,000 (0.6%) in self-employment jobs made the largest contribution. The estimates for GSTs also increased, by 6,000 (17.6%). Only HM Forces have shown a decline on the quarter, down by 2,000 (negative 1.0%) since June 2024.

The estimated number of workforce jobs is 1.1 million (3.2%) above its December 2019 pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) level. Employee jobs is the largest component making up workforce jobs. They are currently at an historically high level of 32.3 million, having been on a largely upwards trend since September 2020. They are 1.6 million (5.1%) above their pre-pandemic level. This relative consistency of growth has not been observed in self-employment jobs, where estimates have shown much greater volatility. This quarter, self-employment jobs have risen by 27,000 from June 2024, but remain 427,000 (9.1%) below pre-pandemic levels.

The total number of workforce jobs are at an historically high level of 36.8 million in September 2024, up by 364,000 (1.0%) from a year ago. Most industries saw an increase in workforce jobs, with 11 of the 20 industry sectors increasing between September 2023 and September 2024. The industries that increased the most from their September 2023 levels were human health and social work, which was up by an estimated 224,000, and professional, scientific, and technical activities, which was up by an estimated 72,000. Of the industry sectors that decreased on the year, the hardest-hit sector was administrative and support service activities, which fell by 112,000 jobs.

The number of workforce jobs increased in nine industry sectors on the quarter. This contributed to the increase of 73,000 in the total workforce jobs estimate. The largest increases came from construction, which was up by an estimated 69,000 (3.2%), followed by professional, scientific, and technical activities, which increased by 34,000 (1.0%). The industry sector with the largest fall on the quarter was private households, which fell by 26,000 (40.9%).

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 A 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 A 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".

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 the accompanying data tables.

In December of each year, regular adjustments are made to Workforce Jobs (WFJ) estimates to improve quality and coherence with other Office for National Statistics (ONS) business surveys, resulting in revisions to the series. Adjustments include benchmarking the short-term employee jobs series to the latest estimates from the annual Business Register and Employment Survey, incorporating revisions to Public Sector Employment estimates, Northern Ireland employee jobs estimates, government-supported trainees (GST) administrative data, and Short-Term Employment Surveys estimates, and changes to seasonal parameters following a seasonal adjustment review.

Workforce jobs incorporate the reweighted LFS data from March 2019 onwards in this bulletin. 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. Therefore, total workforce jobs, employee jobs, and self-employment job comparisons should be avoided from before March 2019. The LFS estimates are official statistics in development.

More information can be found in our Revisions to workforce jobs, UK: December 2024 article and our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators: December 2024 article.

LFS reweighting does not address the volatility we have seen in recent periods and that we expect to see to some extent in the future. We would advise caution when interpreting changes in headline rates and recommend using them as part of our suite of labour market indicators, alongside workforce jobs (WFJ), Claimant Count data, and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) estimates.

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 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)

Read more about how labour market data sources are affected by the coronavirus 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.

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 of each year, the jobs estimates are "benchmarked" to the latest estimates from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES).

The STES estimates are drawn for a specified date early in the last month of each calendar quarter. The March 2020 data were from 13 March 2020 before the start of coronavirus (COVID-19) 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 Vacancy Survey QMI and Workforce Jobs QMI.

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 limitation of our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: April 2021 bulletin.