UK jobs market cooling as vacancies fall again

The UK’s job market is continuing to cool and wage growth has slowed, according to the latest official statistics.

The number of job vacancies has fallen while growth in the number of employees on payrolls has slowed, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The unemployment rate remained at 4.4% in the three months to May.

Wage growth slowed to 5.7% in the same period, but is still outpacing rising prices.

“We continue to see overall some signs of a cooling in the labour market, with the growth in the number of employees on the payroll weakening over the medium term and unemployment gradually increasing,” said Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics.

Between April and June this year, the number of job vacancies fell by 30,000 on the quarter to 889,000, led by the retail and hospitality sectors.

The number of vacancies has now been falling for two years, but still remains higher than pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.

Ms Keown added that growth in earnings, “while remaining relatively strong, is showing signs of slowing again”.

“However, with inflation falling, in real terms it is at its highest rate in over two and a half years.”

After taking the impact of inflation into account, wages were up by 3.2%.