UK job vacancies fell to 728,037 in September 2026, down 11.9% on a year earlier, according to Adzuna's UK Job Market Report. There are now 2.33 jobseekers for every vacancy, the most intense competition for work since mid-2024.

Graduate vacancies at a decade low

Graduate roles have fallen furthest. Adzuna recorded 7,826 graduate vacancies in September, down 43% from 13,754 a year earlier and the lowest total since it began tracking graduate jobs in 2016. The average advertised salary for graduate roles stood at £27,700.

Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter said September's figures were sobering, adding that vacancies were down nearly 12% on the year and there were now more than two jobseekers for every role advertised.

Falls across most sectors

The weakness was broad-based. Logistics and warehouse vacancies dropped 23.0% year on year, IT roles fell 11.1%, trade and construction fell 5.8%, and teaching, the largest sector on Adzuna, was down 4.0%.

Pay has held up better than hiring. The average advertised salary stood at £43,780, up 3.2% year on year, with IT the highest-paying sector at £65,577. Just over half of job adverts, 50.99%, included salary details, the first month on record in which a majority of roles disclosed pay.

The figures sit alongside official data showing 691,000 vacancies in the three months to September. Adzuna supplies real-time vacancy data to the Cabinet Office and the Office for National Statistics' labour market indices.