UK Report on Jobs

Data Employment

Source: S&P Global
Source Link: https://www.pmi.spglobal.com/
Frequency: Monthly
Next Release(s): December 7th, 2025 7:00 PM

Latest Updates

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UK hiring weakened in September: permanent placements and temp billings fell while candidate availability rose sharply, reflecting weaker employer demand and rising supply.
- Permanent placements: Continued to decline in September, though the rate of fall eased to the softest in about a year; firms cited hesitancy to take on new workers amid weaker conditions.
- Temporary billings: Fell at a solid pace in September, with the rate of decline quicker than in August, extending softer recruitment activity for short-term roles.
- Vacancies: Overall job vacancies fell markedly at quarter-end, with the contraction easing only slightly from August’s six-month record — permanent vacancies fell more sharply than temp openings.
- Starting pay: Starting salaries for permanent staff rose only fractionally in September, the weakest pace since the current pay-inflation run began ~4½ years ago; temp pay growth also eased.
- Candidate supply: Availability of workers increased sharply, driven by reduced hiring activity and redundancies; both permanent and temporary labour supply rose markedly (though the expansion slowed a little from August’s record).
- Drivers: Survey respondents pointed to low employer confidence, cost pressures and redundancies as the main reasons for softer hiring and the surge in candidate numbers.
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UK hiring activity weakened further in August 2025, with permanent placements and temp billings both declining, while candidate availability rose at the fastest pace since late 2020.
- Permanent staff hiring contracted again, though the rate of decline was the slowest in three months, reflecting ongoing cost pressures and weak confidence.
- Temporary billings also fell, extending the trend of softer recruitment activity across the UK.
- Candidate availability surged, with both permanent and temporary labour supply rising sharply; redundancies and job security concerns were key drivers.
- Overall vacancies dropped at the steepest pace in six months, led by a sharper contraction in permanent openings compared with temp jobs.
- Starting salaries and temp pay rose slightly but at their slowest rate in four-and-a-half years, signaling subdued wage growth despite increased labour supply.
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UK hiring conditions deteriorated further in July, with permanent placements and temp billings both falling amid weak employer confidence, budget pressures, and rising redundancies.
- Starting salary growth slowed for the second straight month to its weakest since Mar 2021, while temp pay inflation eased to a five-month low.
- Candidate availability rose sharply, the second-fastest pace since Dec 2020, driven by redundancies and job security concerns; permanent staff supply increased more quickly than temp supply.
- Overall vacancies fell at the fastest rate in three months, with permanent openings declining at the quickest pace since Feb and temp demand dropping at the steepest rate since Apr.
- Recruiters cited higher payroll costs and tighter budgets as key factors dampening hiring and pay growth.
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Hiring in the UK weakened further in June, with permanent placements falling at the fastest rate in 22 months and temp billings also declining amid ongoing business uncertainty and tighter budgets.
- Candidate supply rose at the steepest pace since November 2020, driven by redundancies and a reduced appetite for hiring.
- Overall vacancies continued to decline, with permanent roles falling more sharply; demand for temp staff hit its lowest level in 10 months.
- Starting salaries and temp wages increased only modestly, with growth rates weaker than historical averages.
- Recruiters cited reduced confidence in the economic outlook and tighter spending as key reasons for hiring pullbacks.
- The report notes that labour supply improvements were not enough to offset hiring hesitancy across sectors.
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Hiring in the UK declined again in May, with both permanent placements and temp billings falling, though the pace of contraction eased from April.
- Permanent staff appointments fell for the 20th straight month but at the softest pace since August 2023.
- Temporary billings also declined, though marginally, amid reduced client activity and caution around hiring.
- Candidate availability continued to rise, with the sharpest increase in permanent staff supply since December 2020, driven by redundancies.
- Pay growth remained positive: starting salaries rose at the strongest pace in four months, and temp pay rose for the 50th month in a row.
- Demand for workers slipped slightly overall, with vacancies falling in both permanent and temp categories for the first time since January.
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Hiring in the UK contracted again in April, but at the softest pace in seven months, with declines in both permanent placements and temp billings.
- Candidate availability rose sharply, the second-fastest rate since December 2020, driven by redundancies and restructuring.
- Demand for staff continued to weaken, marking the 18th consecutive month of falling vacancies.
- Temp wage growth reached an 11-month high, supported by increases in the national minimum and living wage.
- Starting salaries rose solidly, but overall pay growth remained below long-run averages.
- April’s data pointed to weaker employer confidence and tighter hiring budgets as key drivers of the slowdown.
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Hiring in the UK remained in a contraction in March driven by weaker confidence and tighter budgets.
- The overall labor supply increased at the sharpest rate since December 2020.
- Recruitment firms signaled that UK businesses reduced hiring activity with a sharp reduction in permanent placements.
- Job vacancies fell at the softest rate since October, but the magnitude was still substantial.
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The UK labor market remained in a decline in February, but the decline was not as bad as in the January.
- Permanent staff hiring fell for the 29th month in a row due to a weaker economic outlook and higher payroll costs. However, the drop was the softest since October 2024.
- Temp hiring was slightly better than the 55-month record decline in January.
- Growth in starting salaries was the weakest in four years and well below the historical average.
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The UK labor market continued to deteriorate to start the new year. The S&P UK Report on Jobs found a worsening in hiring demand for both temporary and full-time positions.
- Vacancies declined to the greatest degree since August 2020.
- Permanent jobs declined at a rate similar to the 16-month record pace in December.
- Temp worker employment fell at the sharpest pace since the survey began recording this category in June 2020.
- Permanent pay inflation softened and remained below the long-term average.
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