UK Labour Market — The Real Numbers
Current ONS vacancy data, KPMG/REC recruiter sentiment, an archived Adzuna graduate-jobs snapshot, and the current status of a checked redundancy source ledger.
ONS Vacancies — The Collapse
Office for National Statistics official vacancy count. The current VACS02 total is preferred; AP2Y is used only when that total is unavailable.
Vacancies by Industry — Latest ONS VACS02
Period: Jun-Aug 2026
| Industry | Vacancies (thousands) |
|---|---|
| All vacancies | 702.0k |
| Total services | 615.0k |
| Human health & social work activities | 121.0k |
| Wholesale & retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles | 91.0k |
| Accommodation & food service activities | 70.0k |
| Professional scientific & technical activities | 69.0k |
| Administrative & support service activities | 50.0k |
| Retail | 49.0k |
| Manufacturing | 48.0k |
| Education | 44.0k |
| Information & communication | 36.0k |
| Transport & storage | 35.0k |
| Public admin & defence; compulsory social security | 31.0k |
| Financial & insurance activities | 30.0k |
| Construction | 29.0k |
| Wholesale | 25.0k |
| Motor Trades | 17.0k |
| Arts, entertainment & recreation | 14.0k |
| Other service activities | 13.0k |
| Real estate activities | 12.0k |
Source: ONS VACS02
KPMG/REC Report on Jobs — Recruiter Sentiment
Monthly PMI-style survey of UK recruitment agencies. Below 50 = contraction. Published by REC with KPMG. Source →
Latest validated release in this dataset: September 2026.
The public press release does not provide numeric PMI index values, so no N/A index cards are shown.
Latest Report — September 2026
Adzuna — Graduate & Entry-Level Vacancies
Archived Adzuna graduate and entry-level vacancy data. The current public report endpoint no longer yields an update, so this section is not presented as live. Former source endpoint no longer resolves
Historical snapshot: 2026-03. This row was seeded manually from a prior project briefing; the exact original report citation is not stored, so provenance remains under review. Automated refresh is currently unavailable.
What the Stored March 2026 Snapshot Contains
UK AI Redundancy Source Ledger
Checked company announcements and reporting that explicitly connect AI with a workforce change. Classification: AI_direct = AI explicitly named as cause; AI_adjacent = AI cited alongside broader cost-cutting; cost_cutting_with_AI_cover = cost-cutting using AI as framing.
No entries are currently published. The former seed set was withdrawn because its placeholder citations did not resolve reliably and its AI-causation labels were not reproducible. This section will return only with a checked source ledger.
Connecting the Dots
1. ONS shows the labour market has weakened from its 2022 vacancy peak. 702,000 vacancies (Jun-Aug 2026, VACS02) — the lowest outside the pandemic since late 2014. A fall of 598,000 from the 2022 peak. The decline has persisted since the 2022 peak.
2. KPMG/REC provides monthly recruiter sentiment. The latest validated public release in this dataset is September 2026.
3. The database contains a manual Adzuna historical snapshot. It is dated March 2026, but its exact original report citation is not stored and provenance remains under review. It is not used here as evidence of a current live vacancy count.
4. The AI redundancy ledger is temporarily withheld. Legacy rows with non-reproducible citations have been quarantined rather than presented as evidence.
The combination is a labour market that politicians describe in the language of 2021 while workers navigate the reality of 2026.
Data Sources
ONS: VACS02, AP2Y time series | REC: Report on Jobs | Adzuna: former Job Market Report endpoint (no longer resolves) | Company redundancy ledger: withheld pending reproducible citations
Source checks run daily. ONS publishes monthly and REC publishes monthly; the Adzuna figures shown here are a manual March 2026 snapshot with provenance under review, pending a reproducible replacement source.
📊 What This Means