Consumer Snippets – 28 November 2025

UK job vacancies slowing

The UK jobs market continued to soften in September, with advertised vacancies falling -2.4% MoM to 826k, marking the lowest level year-to-date and extending a 39-month streak of decline in ONS data. Open roles are now -4.1% below last year’s levels, underscoring a steady cooling in hiring activity as employers scale back recruitment after a robust start to 2025, amid persistent macro headwinds and policy uncertainty ahead of November’s Budget announcement. Despite weaker labour demand, advertised salaries remain resilient, rising +0.1% MoM and +8.8% YoY, still outpacing inflation and supported by April’s minimum wage increase. However, competition for roles has intensified, with over two jobseekers per vacancy (2.06), the highest ratio since early 2024, as unemployment edges up to 4.8%. Vacancies declined across nearly all UK regions, led by London (-4.6%), South East (-2.5%), and Eastern England (-2.4%), while Northern Ireland (+1.2%) was the only area to record growth.