Vacancies and jobs in the UK: November 2024

• Labour market overview

• Average weekly earnings in Great Britain

• Earnings and employment from Pay As You Earn Real Time Information

• Employment in the UK

• The estimated number of vacancies in the UK in August to October 2024 was 831,000, a decrease of 35,000, or 4.0%, from May to July 2024.

• Vacancy numbers decreased on the quarter for the 28th consecutive period in August to October 2024, with vacancies decreasing in 16 of the 18 industry sectors.

• Total estimated vacancies were down by 130,000 (13.6%) from the level of a year ago in August to October 2024, although they remained 35,000 (4.4%) above their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic January to March 2020 levels.

• The number of unemployed people per vacancy was 1.8 in July to September 2024, up by 0.2 from 1.6 in the previous quarter (April to June 2024).

The series of quarterly decreases in vacancy numbers continued in August to October 2024, for the 28th consecutive period. The total number of vacancies has declined by an estimated 473,000 since its peak in March to May 2022.

The headline vacancy estimates are based on three-month averages, which naturally involve some time lag. Insights into trends in October 2024 are provided by our Dataset X06: Single month vacancies estimates (see Section 7: Data sources and quality). We advise caution when comparing data sources, as the single-month data are not seasonally adjusted.

The estimated total number of vacancies decreased by 4.0% from the previous quarter, declining in 16 of the 18 industry sectors. The largest percentage decrease was in water supply, sewerage, waste and remediation activities at 12.2%, followed by manufacturing, and transport and storage, which both fell by 9.9%.

The estimated number of vacancies decreased on the quarter by 35,000 to 831,000 in August to October 2024. This was the 28th consecutive quarterly fall. The largest level decrease was in human health and social work activities, which was down by 12,000 vacancies.

When comparing August to October 2024 with the same time last year, total vacancies decreased by 130,000 (13.6%), with declines in 14 of the 18 industry sectors. The industries that decreased the most were human health and social work activities, wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and accommodation and food service activities which fell by a combined total of 88,000 vacancies.

The total estimated number of vacancies remains 35,000 (4.4%) above its January to March 2020 pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic level. The two industry sectors that remain the highest above their January to March 2020 levels are professional, scientific and technical activities, and public admin and defence; compulsory social security, which are both an estimated 13,000 vacancies above this level.

Six industry sectors are currently below pre-coronavirus levels, down by a combined 46,000 vacancies. These include wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, which is 29,000 below its pre-coronavirus level.

The number of unemployed people per vacancy in July to September 2024 was 1.8, up by 0.2 from 1.6 in the previous quarter (April to June 2024).

Growth decreased in all industry size bands on the quarter, except businesses with 10 to 49 employees, which increased by 2.9%. The largest quarterly decrease was 5.9% for both businesses with 250 to 2,499 employees and businesses with over 2,500 employees. Growth in all industry size bands decreased over the year. The largest decrease was 17.3% in both businesses with 250 to 2,499 employees, and businesses with over 2,500 employees. This largest size band is also the only one below its January to March 2020 pre-coronavirus level.

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

The estimated number of WFJ for June 2024 was 37.1 million, and continues to be at a historically high level, as described in our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: September 2024 bulletin. Between March 2024 and June 2024, there was an increase in employee jobs of 62,000 (0.2%) and a decrease in self-employment jobs of 92,000 (2.1%), alongside a combined increase in government-supported trainees and HM armed forces of 3,000 (1.5%).

Employee jobs have risen every quarter since December 2020 and are now at 32.7 million. Growth in the self-employment component of WFJ has been less consistent over the same period and has decreased this quarter. Comparing with the equivalent period last year, WFJ are up by 503,000 (1.4%), with employee jobs up by 386,000 (1.2%) and self-employment jobs up by 134,000 (3.3%). Meanwhile, government-supported trainees and HM armed forces are showing a combined fall of 16,000 (8.3%).

Annually, growth in the WFJ estimates has varied, with 5 of the 20 industry sectors below June 2023 levels. The largest decrease in job numbers was in construction, at 108,000 (4.8%). However, most industries showed increases, with the largest rise from human health and social work activities, which was up by 288,000 (6.0%).

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 A 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 A 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".

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 data tables.

As stated on 5 February 2024 in our Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey (LFS) key indicators: 2024 article, from 13 February we have reinstated reweighted LFS estimates into our monthly publication. These LFS estimates are official statistics in development.

Reweighting does not address the volatility we have seen in recent periods and which we expect to see to some extent in the future, so we would 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 (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) estimates.

As stated in our article published 18 July 2024, we are planning a further reweighting exercise, based on the population projections published in January 2024. We plan to introduce the reweighted LFS series into our Labour market publication by the end of 2024.

We will implement these reweighted LFS figures in our workforce jobs estimates in December 2024. The LFS estimates feed into workforce jobs via employee jobs, self-employment jobs and government-supported trainees. In December each year, the jobs estimates are "benchmarked" to the latest estimates from the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES), which will also be implemented in our December 2024 publication.

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 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 the Vacancy Survey, a survey of employers. Adzuna Online job advert estimates are also published as part of our Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators bulletins.

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).

The STES estimates are drawn for a specified date early in the last month of each calendar quarter. The March 2020 data were from 13 March 2020 before the start of coronavirus (COVID-19) social distancing measures.

For more information on how jobs data are measured, please see our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: April 2021 bulletin.

More quality and methodology information (QMI) on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Vacancy Survey QMI and Workforce jobs QMI.

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 our Vacancies and jobs in the UK: April 2021 bulletin.