The latest UK Job Market Report by job matching platform Adzuna has seen UK vacancies continuing to fall in August following a downward dip in July, dropping -2.1 per cent month-on-month to 846,567 and slipping -1.3 per cent annually.
This marks the first year-on-year decline since February, breaking a run of five months of annual growth. Still, vacancy levels remain close to the highs seen earlier in 2025, and are still +2.2 per cent higher than January (828,467), often a peak hiring month. All of which hints at a labour market that is cooling, not collapsing.
Average advertised salaries also continue to show resilience, ticking up +0.24 per cent month-on-month to £42,367. As a result, pay growth remains strong year-on-year at +8.9 per cent and continues to outpace inflation, even if the rapid acceleration of earlier in the year has eased. This is in the wake of inflation holding at 3.8 per cent, and continues to be compounded by the National Minimum Wage increase in April.
With unemployment also holding at a four-year high of 4.7 per cent, and with vacancies continuing to fall in August, competition has intensified slightly, with 2 jobseekers per vacancy. There has additionally been a drop in economic inactivity to an estimated 21 per cent which is below estimates of a year ago, and down in the latest quarter.
Healthcare continues to be one of the hardest-hit areas of the labour market. Vacancies in the sector fell a further -6.7 per cent month-on-month in August, after falling -10.34 per cent in July, followed by Hospitality & Catering (-6.5 per cent), and Teaching (-6.4 per cent). Meanwhile, Domestic Help & Cleaning (+6.8 per cent) and HR & Recruitment (+5.1 per cent) were among the strongest risers in monthly vacancies.
The average time to fill a role sat at 37.3 days, almost a day longer than the previous month’s 36.3 days. Salary transparency, however, slipped back. In August, just 43.9 per cent of job ads included pay details, down from 45 per cent in July, reversing the recent improvements seen earlier in the summer.
Vacancies fell across all UK regions in August, continuing the slowdown seen through the summer. The steepest month-on-month declines came in London (-4.4 per cent), Eastern England (-2.7 per cent), and the South West (-2.6 per cent).
On an annual basis, Wales (-11.2 per cent) and Scotland (-8.1 per cent) recorded the largest falls in job openings. By contrast, Northern Ireland remained the standout with vacancies up +52.3 per cent year-on-year.
“August brought another dip in vacancies, breaking the short run of annual growth we’d seen since February, “Andrew Hunter, co-founder of job matching platform Adzuna, said: “Salary growth remains one of the few constants, still outpacing inflation, but hiring appetite is uneven and increasingly shaped by a mix of sector-specific swings and the growing role of AI within the UK labour market. It’s a reminder that the market is still finding its balance as emerging technologies, shifting skills demand, and macro-economic conditions continue to redefine where and how employers are hiring.”
