Vacancies and jobs in the UK: May 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 42,000, or 5.3%, on the quarter, to 761,000 in February to April 2025, which was the 34th consecutive quarterly decline.

• Total estimated vacancies were down by 131,000, or 14.7%, in February to April 2025 from the level of a year ago, and 34,000 (4.3%) below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) January to March 2020 level.

• The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 2.1 in January to March 2025, up from 1.9 in the previous quarter (October to December 2024).

The estimated number of vacancies fell by 42,000 (5.3%) to 761,000 in February to April 2025. This was the 34th consecutive quarterly decline, with the total number of vacancies decreasing by an estimated 538,000 since its peak in March to May 2022.

Total estimated vacancies are now 34,000 (4.3%) 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 provide insights into trends in April 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 include 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 viewing 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, as it shows how many unemployed people there are for each available unfilled job. An increase in the unemployment-to-vacancy ratio implies a less tight labour market, as there are more available workers to fill those vacant jobs.

The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 2.1 in January to March 2025, up from 1.9 in the previous quarter (October to December 2024). It is also higher than the figure (1.7) in the same period a year ago. Recent increases are because of both the continued decline of vacancies and an increase in unemployment in recent periods. The last time the number of unemployed people per vacancy was 2.1 or more before the pandemic was in November 2016 to January 2017.

The estimated total number of vacancies decreased by 5.3% from the previous quarter, falling in 13 out of the 18 industry sectors. The largest percentage decrease in vacancies was in the construction sector at 26.7%, followed by other service activities at 17.0%. The industry with the largest volume decrease in vacancies was again construction, which fell by 11,000 vacancies, followed by manufacturing at 9,000.

When comparing February to April 2025 with the same period last year, total vacancies decreased by 131,000 (14.7%), with declines in 17 of the 18 industry sectors. The industry with the largest percentage decrease in vacancies was the other service activities industry, which was down by 34.4%. This was followed by mining and quarrying, which was down by 23.5%. The only industry sector with an increase in vacancy estimates compared with the same period last year was water supply, sewerage, waste and remediation activities, up by 1,000 (9.7%).

The total estimated number of vacancies is 34,000 (4.3%) below its January to March 2020 pre-coronavirus level. There are 11 industry sectors where the latest vacancies estimates are below pre-coronavirus levels, by a combined total of 61,000 vacancies. The largest level decrease relative to pre-coronavirus levels is in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which has 29,000 fewer vacancies than at its pre-coronavirus level.

Four of the five industry size bands saw decreases in the estimated number of vacancies on the quarter. The largest quarterly percentage decrease in vacancy estimates was in businesses with 1 to 9 employees, down 15,000 (11.1%) vacancies. The only industry size band with a quarterly increase in vacancy estimates was businesses with 10 to 49 employees, up by 1,000 (0.8%).

Over the year, the estimated number of vacancies decreased in all industry size bands, with the largest percentage decrease in vacancies for businesses with 50 to 249 employees, which decreased by 24,000 (17.7%). Early estimates show that for the first time, businesses with 50 to 249 employees have vacancy estimates below their pre-coronavirus level (1,000 lower than January to March 2020), joining those with 2,500 or more employees.

Our workforce jobs (WFJ) estimates are published every three months. Our latest estimates for December 2024 were published in March 2025. WFJ estimates are provided from various sources, which are outlined in Section 7: Data sources and quality.

The estimated number of WFJ in the UK for December 2024 was 36.9 million, and continues to be at a historically high level, as described in our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: March 2025 bulletin. This is a rise of 155,000 (0.4%) since September 2024. The quarterly increase was largely caused by an increase of 131,000 (0.4%) in employee jobs. More modest increases were seen in the other components of workforce jobs. There was a rise of 10,000 (0.2%) in self-employment jobs and 14,000 (34.6%) in government-supported trainees. HM Forces jobs remained broadly unchanged.

The estimated number of WFJ increased on the year by 403,000 (1.1%). Numbers continue to be at an historically high level, following a largely upward trend since September 2020. They are 1.2 million (3.5%) above their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level. Most industries saw an increase in WFJ. Our estimates show 13 of the 20 industry sectors increasing between December 2023 and December 2024. The industries with the largest annual increases in estimated WFJ were human health and social work, and professional, scientific, and technical activities. Human health and social work was up by an estimated 178,000 (3.7%) jobs, and professional, scientific, and technical activities was up by an estimated 120,000 (3.6%) jobs.

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

From 17 December 2024, we have reinstated reweighted Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates into our monthly publication, as stated on 3 December 2024 in our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey 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. Therefore, users should avoid making comparisons with estimates from before March 2019. These LFS estimates are official statistics in development.

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 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 Real Time Information (PAYE RTI) estimates.

We aim to include revisions of our estimates of workforce jobs back to 2023 in the June edition of our Vacancies and jobs in the UK bulletin, to be published on 10 June 2025. Revisions will result from 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 QMI. These revisions were delayed to enable us to take on reweighted estimates from the LFS, as mentioned in our Revisions to workforce jobs, UK: December 2024 article.

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 datasets.

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)

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.

The Vacancy Survey response rate was 74.6% in April 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.

The 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 coronavirus 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.

The combined response rate across the Short-Term Employment Surveys was 78.2% in December 2024.

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.