UK job vacancies fell to their lowest level in June since March 2021, according to data from Adzuna.

The jobs database found that vacancies fell by 19.49% year-on-year in June to 852,700, while jobseekers per role went up to their most competitive since June 2021.

The company said the latest figures seemed to suggest that the job market has not fully recovered since the Covid pandemic.

Average advertised salaries rose again, however, to £38,834. This is the highest they have been this year, Adzuna said.

And while overall hiring was down, roles in professional services sectors such as law saw the highest monthly job increases, of 8.46%.

PR, advertising and marketing was also up (3.78%), as was creative and design (3.46%), both seeing increases for the first time since February. The IT sector had its first month of an increase in vacancies since June last year, going up by just over 2%.

Unusually for the summer, hospitality and catering vacancies went down by 5.32%, although this was after a small increase in May.

Roles in admin, and healthcare and nursing, both decreased this month, Adzuna found, by 5.02% and 4.16% respectively.

Year on year, teaching was one of the only sectors to see annual job vacancies rise, increasing by 10.12%. Trade and construction had the most dramatic fall in vacancies, dropping by 50%.

The majority of industries and all regions saw average salaries rise, with the biggest changes visible in the East Midlands, closely followed by Eastern England.

Cambridge was the top city for jobhunters in June, Adzuna found, with the lowest jobseeker to available roles ratio at 0.35, with 7,130 roles available. Guildford was second with 0.52 and Exeter third with 0.64.

The hardest city to find a role was Bradford, with 8.2 jobseekers per role. Warehouse work was the most-searched-for job, and has been for the past 18 months.

“The positive economic growth that has been recorded in the first two quarters of the year has yet to filter through to hiring,” said Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna.

“While businesses may have put their hiring plans on pause because of the General Election, compared to the same time last year, hiring is down nearly a fifth across the UK.

“But there are green shoots on the horizon: not least the professional services sector and the creative sector stepping up hiring and the IT sector returning to growth for the first time this month since 2023.

“Hiring traditionally falls in the summer months as companies pause recruitment for holidays, so we may need to wait until September until job hunters see the benefits from economic growth translate into more job opportunities.”

Although advertised vacancies have hit a low, recruitment confidence is high, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s latest Jobs Outlook. This suggested that hiring confidence is at its highest since early 2022.

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