Office of National Statistics Research points to a decrease in the number of vacancies in the UK

The estimated number of vacancies between November 2023 to January 2024 was 932,000, which reflects a decrease of 26,000 from the previous quarter. In fact vacancies have continued to fall every quarter since March to May 2022. That said, they are still significantly higher than prior to the pandemic.

In the middle of 2022, the number of vacancies to unemployed people was higher, currently (Oct-Dec’23 figures) it’s 1.4 unemployed person per every vacancy.

Most industry vacancies showed an overall decline, and the sectors that showed the largest annual decrease in number of vacancies were in human health and social work activities, and accommodation and food service activities.