Job market 'cooling' | Unemployment rises yet job vacancies still abundant, ONS stats reveal

The unemployment rate in the UK is the highest it’s been in almost a year, yet job vacancies and wage growth remain high, according to recent figures from the ONS found.

As employees have struggled in the cost-of-living crisis and busineses have needed to remain as competitive employers, real pay growth remains at the highest it has been in over two years. However, experts say that these figures indicate the job market is “cooling”.

Jobs on offer in the UK dropped by 26,000 to 898,000 vacancies between February and April.

Even though this is a higher number of vacancies than pre-pandemic levels, the rate of unemployed people per vacancy has continued to rise, nearing levels seen before the pandemic.