Vacancies and jobs in the UK: July 2026

• 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

• Vacancy estimates decreased on the quarter, with early estimates for April to June 2026 suggesting a decrease of 7,000 (0.9%) vacancies to 712,000, compared with January to March 2026.

• Vacancy estimates decreased in 10 of the 18 industry sectors; the largest decreases were in professional, scientific and technical activities and in human health and social work activities (both down 4,000 vacancies).

• Vacancy estimates decreased in 3 of the 5 employment size bands; the largest decrease was for businesses with 1 to 9 employees (down 8,000 vacancies).

• Total estimated vacancies were down by 18,000 (2.5%) in April to June 2026 from the level of a year ago, decreasing in 11 of the 18 industry sectors, and in 3 of the 5 employment size bands.

• There were 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy in March to May 2026; this ratio has remained at 2.5 since July to September 2025, after previously increasing quarter on quarter since July to September 2024.

The early estimate of the number of vacancies in the UK decreased by 7,000 (0.9%) to 712,000 in April to June 2026, compared with January to March 2026. This follows a period of broadly flat estimates between March to May 2025 and December 2025 to February 2026. This change remains within our confidence interval for estimates of approximately plus or minus 32,000 vacancies (more information is available in Section 7: Data sources and quality).

On the year, vacancies have decreased by 18,000 (2.5%), with total estimated vacancies now 77,000 (9.7%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic January to March 2020 level. In the previous overlapping period, March to May 2026, there were an estimated 710,000 vacancies. Before this, the last time there were 712,000 or fewer vacancies was in February to April 2021, when there were 660,000 vacancies.

The headline vacancy estimates are based on three-month averages, which naturally involve some time lag. We provided insights into trends in June 2026 in our Dataset X06: Single month vacancies estimates (more information is available in Section 7: Data sources and quality). We advise caution when comparing data sources because the single-month data are not seasonally adjusted.

The unemployment-to-vacancy ratio is a measure of labour market "tightness", meaning that 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.

There were 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy in March to May 2026. The ratio has remained at 2.5 since July to September 2025, after previously increasing quarter on quarter since July to September 2024, and is up from 2.3 in the same period a year ago.

The estimated total number of vacancies decreased by 7,000 (0.9%) in April to June 2026 compared with January to March 2026, falling in 10 of the 18 industry sectors. The industry with the largest percentage decrease was real estate activities, down 16.1% (2,000 vacancies). The largest volume decreases were in professional, scientific and technical activities, and in human health and social work activities, both down 4,000 vacancies.

Total vacancies decreased by 18,000 (2.5%) in April to June 2026, compared with the same period a year ago. There were declines in 11 of the 18 industry sectors. The industries with the largest annual percentage decreases in vacancies were the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector, down 17.9% (1,000 vacancies) and real estate activities, down 17.5% (2,000 vacancies). Human health and social work activities had the largest annual volume decrease, down 14,000 vacancies, followed by accommodation and food service activities, down 9,000 vacancies, and wholesale and retail trade, down 6,000 vacancies.

Of the 5 employment size bands, 3 saw decreases in the number of vacancies on the quarter to April to June 2026. The largest quarterly decrease was in businesses with 1 to 9 employees, down 8,000 (7.1%) vacancies since January to March 2026. Feedback from our Vacancy Survey suggests that some small firms may not be recruiting because of increases in labour costs and other operating expenses. Businesses with 10 to 49 employees showed a slight increase of 1,000 (1.4%) vacancies on the quarter, after displaying quarterly falls since March to May 2025. Businesses with 2,500 or more employees showed an increase of 4,000 (1.7%) vacancies on the quarter.

The number of vacancies decreased over the year in the three smallest employment size bands. The largest decreases were for businesses with 10 to 49 employees, down 12,000 (10.6%) vacancies, and 1 to 9 employees, down 10,000 (9.3%) vacancies. Businesses with 2,500 or more employees showed an annual increase of 7,000 (3.2%) vacancies.

Workforce jobs (WFJ) estimates are provided by various sources and our latest estimates for March 2026 were published in June 2026. Estimates of employee jobs in the private sector are from business surveys with a reference date of 13 March 2026. Estimates of self-employment jobs are drawn from our Labour Force Survey (LFS), which covers a three-month period from the start of February 2026 to the end of April 2026.

Before publishing our Vacancies and jobs in the UK June bulletin, we undertook additional analysis on our headline workforce jobs series as part of our quality assurance processes. Our analysis indicated mixed and emerging evidence of evolving seasonal patterns in both our headline employee jobs and self-employment jobs. These seasonal patterns are more evident in self-employment jobs. More information on this can be found in Section 7: Data sources and quality.

Early estimates suggest there were 36.8 million WFJ in the UK in March 2026. This is a quarterly increase of 256,000 (0.7%) since December 2025. The quarterly increase was caused by an increase of 177,000 (4.4%) in self-employment jobs and 81,000 (0.3%) in employee jobs. Estimates of government-supported trainees decreased by 3,000 (5.7%) on the quarter, and HM Forces were broadly flat on the quarter.

The estimated number of WFJ decreased by 98,000 (0.3%) in March 2026 from the level of a year ago. This was caused by a decrease of 127,000 (2.9%) in the self-employment jobs component. However, there was an increase of 30,000 (0.1%) in the employee jobs component. The other components are broadly flat, with HM Forces up 1,000 (0.7%), and government-supported trainees down 2,000 (3.3%) over the year.

The number of WFJ increased in 16 of the 20 industry sectors on the quarter. The industries with the biggest percentage increase on the quarter were:

• people employed by households, up by 32.8%

• mining and quarrying, up by 7.3%

• agriculture, forestry and fishing, up by 5.1%

The industries with the largest volume increases on the quarter were human health and social work activities, which was up 61,000 (1.2%), and professional, scientific and technical activities, which was up 43,000 (1.3%). There were increases in both employee jobs and self-employment jobs in these sectors, however, there were larger increases in the self-employment component. On the quarter, there was an increase of 51,000 self-employment jobs in human health and social work activities, and 31,000 in professional, scientific and technical activities.

There was a decrease in the number of WFJ in 8 of the 20 industry sectors on the year. The industries with the biggest percentage annual decreases are the information and communication sector, which was down 3.6%, and manufacturing, which was down 3.2%. The industries with the largest volume decrease in WFJ between March 2025 and March 2026 were wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which was down 86,000 (1.8%), and manufacturing, which was down 81,000 (3.2%). The fall in wholesale and retail trade is because of the self-employment jobs component, which was down 86,000. The fall in manufacturing is because of the employee jobs component, which was down 58,000.

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. More information is available in Section 10: Jobs in our Guide to labour market statistics methodology.

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, and activities of households as employers (small sectors for which the collection of estimates would not be practical). More information is available in Section 11: Vacancies 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".

Latest changes to vacancies

In this July 2026 bulletin, Labour Force Survey data have been revised back to January to March 2020 because of a seasonal adjustment review. This will affect the unemployment-to-vacancy ratio published in this bulletin and in our VACS01: Vacancies and unemployment dataset, where revisions are clearly marked.

We have also introduced a new method for calculating the vacancy ratios published in our VACS02: Vacancies by industry dataset. This method uses a job openings rate, instead of the number of vacancies per 100 employee jobs. As part of the transition, we also improved the timeliness of the denominator, which was previously an annual average of the previous calendar year, until the relevant full calendar year was available. The new method will use a rolling average of the four most recently published quarters and will take on any revisions to jobs data as soon as they become available. This improvement will ensure our denominators are timely and aid our understanding and interpretation of this metric and changes in the measure.

Both the old and new methods will be published in our VACS02: Vacancies by industry dataset on 21 July 2026 and 18 August 2026. This will enable users to review the changes and provide feedback. Our aim is to transition to publishing the revised method only from 15 September 2026 onwards.

More information is available in our Vacancy Survey quality and methods information. Please email us at vacancy.survey@ons.gov.uk if you have any questions or feedback on this improvement.

Upcoming revisions to workforce jobs 

We aim to include revisions of estimates of workforce jobs back to 1981 in our Vacancies and jobs in the UK bulletin, publishing on 15 September 2026. Revisions will result from our regular annual review of the seasonal adjustment parameters.

This is an annual process that usually takes place in December each year, however because of the mixed and emerging evidence of evolving seasonal patterns, we aim to bring our annual seasonal adjustment review forward.

More information is outlined in our Workforce jobs in the UK quality and methods guide and Labour market statistics revisions policy (PDF, 36.7KB).

Latest changes to workforce jobs

Up until December 2025, employee jobs data for the private sector were collected through three surveys: the Monthly Business Survey (MBS), Quarterly Business Survey (QBS), and Construction Survey (CON).

To improve and streamline processes, the data collection platform for these three surveys was upgraded and went live throughout Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025. Alongside this, employment questions have been consolidated into a single questionnaire under the QBS; they were removed from the MBS and the CON from December 2025. Businesses in sectors that were only previously sampled in the MBS or the CON have now been included in an expanded QBS universe instead, which samples approximately 37,000 businesses.

The core QBS methodology remains unchanged, but the sample is larger and unified. Forced inclusions (large businesses that must be included) will only apply where required for QBS. For the remaining sample, there will be an overlap of around 50% between the old MBS and CON samples, and the new QBS sample in December 2025. There will be full overlap for forced inclusions to ensure a smooth transition. In March 2026, the forced inclusions in the overlap were withdrawn and replaced by newly sampled businesses, but the forced inclusions for large businesses will remain. Normal QBS rotation will resume from June 2026.

There has been no impact from the platform upgrade itself, because methods remain consistent. However, sampling a large number of new businesses has affected response rates and the number of responses available for imputation link factors.

We have worked with our survey teams to reduce the impact of these changes, supporting the onboarding of newly selected businesses and prioritising follow-up where needed. However, there are small known biases between newly sampled and existing businesses within the existing rotation, construction, and imputation methods. These biases have been amplified during this period because of the volume of newly sampled businesses.

More information is available in our Workforce jobs in the UK quality and methods guide, which was published on 19 March 2026.

Discontinuities in workforce jobs

Read more about discontinuities in workforce jobs in Section 7: Data sources and quality of our Vacancies andjobs in the UK: November 2025 bulletin.

Rounding

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.

Coronavirus pandemic

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

A comparison of our labour market data sources and the main differences, is available in 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.

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

Estimates of jobs are compiled from a number of sources, including the Quarterly Business Survey (QBS), the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Surveys (QPSES), and the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

More quality and methodology information on sources, strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Vacancy Survey QMI report and our Workforce jobs in the UK quality and methods guide.

Response Rates

The Vacancy Survey response rate was 77.5% in June 2026.

The Quarterly Business Survey response rate was 71.8% in March 2026.

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.

Further information is available in Section 8: Strengths and limitations of our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: April 2021 bulletin.