Labor Market
Job openings in the United Kingdom fell again in the third quarter. The Office for National Statistics estimated 691,000 vacancies in July to September 2026, down 21,000, or 2.9%, from April to June and down 37,000, or 5.1%, from a year earlier. It is the first time the total has dropped below 700,000 since February to April 2021. Outside the pandemic period, the last time vacancies were this low was July to September 2014, when they stood at 686,000.
The ONS published the figures Tuesday, Oct. 20, in its monthly labour market release. The data come from several sources that cover different periods, so the release does not describe a single month.
Payrolls flat on the month, lower on the year
Tax-records data from HM Revenue and Customs give the most recent reading on jobs. The early estimate puts payrolled employees in September 2026 at 30.3 million, up 13,000 from August but down 66,000, or 0.2%, from September 2025. The ONS calls the September numbers provisional. They rest on about 85% of the eventual returns and will be revised next month.
Revisions can be large. The August monthly change, first reported as a fall of 26,000, now shows a gain of 1,000. Payrolled employees in August were 111,000, or 0.4%, below their level a year earlier.
By industry, administrative and support services added 66,000 payrolled employees over the year, the largest increase. Wholesale and retail lost 71,000, the largest decline. Information and communication had the steepest percentage fall, at 2.5%. Among age groups, the number of payrolled employees aged 18 to 24 rose by 56,000 over the year, and the number aged 65 and over rose by 71,000. London had the weakest regional trend, down 0.7%. Northern Ireland had the strongest, up 0.9%.
Unemployment at 4.7%
The Labour Force Survey covers June to August 2026. In that period the unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over was 4.7%, down 0.1 percentage point on both the quarter and the year. The employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 rose 0.2 point to 75.3%, and the economic inactivity rate fell to 20.9%. The ONS advises caution with short-term movements in the survey and is moving its outputs to a transformed version of it.
There were 2.4 unemployed people for each vacancy in June to August, down from 2.5 in March to May and the same as a year earlier.
The Claimant Count, a separate administrative measure of people claiming unemployment-related benefits, rose on the month and on the year to an estimated 1.701 million in September. The ONS said that figure is also provisional.
Where openings are shrinking
Vacancies fell in 14 of 18 industry sectors in the latest quarter. Construction had the biggest drop in volume, down 7,000, or 20.5%. Over the year, professional, scientific and technical activities lost the most openings (9,000, or 11.6%), followed by education (7,000, or 13.3%). The smallest employers pulled back most. Businesses with 1 to 9 employees reported 77,000 vacancies, down 21,000 on the quarter and 38,000 on the year.
The overall vacancy rate was 2.1 openings per 100 jobs, down 0.1 point. It was highest in mining and quarrying (3.3) and finance and insurance (2.9), and lowest in arts, entertainment and recreation (1.4).
Pay growth eases
Average weekly earnings, which cover Great Britain, grew 3.7% a year in June to August, both for regular pay and for total pay including bonuses. Total pay growth was down from 3.9% in the previous three months. After adjusting for CPIH inflation, regular pay grew 0.6%. Public-sector regular pay rose 6.3%, a figure the ONS says reflects the timing of pay awards. Private-sector regular pay rose 3.0%, and construction pay grew slowest, at 1.1%. Separately, tax data put median monthly pay in September at £2,660, up 4.4% from a year earlier.
Taken together, the figures show employers advertising fewer jobs while payroll headcounts hold roughly steady. That points to slower hiring rather than widespread job cuts. The vacancy estimate has a 95% confidence interval of plus or minus 32,000. The ONS will publish its next labour market release on Nov. 17. These are UK figures and do not describe the U.S. job market.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics, “Labour market overview, UK: October 2026,” October 20, 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/october2026
- Office for National Statistics, “Vacancies and jobs in the UK: October 2026,” October 20, 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/jobsandvacanciesintheuk/october2026
- Office for National Statistics, “Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information, UK: October 2026,” October 20, 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/earningsandemploymentfrompayasyouearnrealtimeinformationuk/latest
- Office for National Statistics, “Average weekly earnings in Great Britain: October 2026,” October 20, 2026. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/october2026
Featured photo: The Office for National Statistics site in Newport, south Wales, photographed Aug. 8, 2016. Photo: M J Roscoe, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). Cropped from the original.
