- Job postings across the UK fell by over 40% between early 2023 and mid-2025, with consistent year-on-year declines in both national and city-level volumes.
- Major cities such as London, Manchester, and Birmingham recorded drops in vacancy numbers ranging from 60% to 75% compared to 2023 levels.
- Despite falling volumes, the most frequently posted roles remained broadly consistent throughout the period, with only modest shifts in demand across occupations.
In early 2024, the UK Government implemented an increase in employer National Insurance Contributions (NIC), aimed at strengthening public finances. Since then, questions have emerged about whether this policy has had any bearing on hiring activity. A review of employment trends from 2023 through mid-2025 reveals several noteworthy shifts in the labour market, based on job posting data from Jooble.
Hiring Volumes Continue to Fall
The number of unique job postings has declined consistently across this period. Between the first half of 2023 and the same period in 2024, vacancy volumes dropped by around 24%. This downward movement continued into 2025, with the first half of the year seeing a further decline of 25% compared to 2024. In total, the volume of job postings in early 2025 was more than 40% lower than in the equivalent period in 2023.
This sustained decline reflects a notable reduction in job posting volumes over the past two and a half years.
From Volatility to Stability
Jooble’s data also shows a change in hiring dynamics. In August 2023, vacancy numbers increased by 225% compared to July – a huge short-term spike. However, such volatility has not been observed in 2024 or 2025. Instead, job volumes in 2025 have remained consistently below the long-term median, with relatively limited month-on-month change.
This shift toward lower and more stable hiring activity may reflect changes in employer behaviour. According to the CIPD Labour Market Outlook (Spring 2024), many UK employers signalled intentions to maintain current workforce levels or slow hiring plans, citing rising employment costs and broader cost-management strategies.
City-Level Analysis: Patterns and Declines
From 2023 to mid-2025, nearly all major UK cities have seen marked reductions in job vacancies. The top five cities by vacancy volume – London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds – have followed a similar downward trajectory, though with distinct characteristics.
London experienced the most pronounced shift, with job postings in H1 2025 falling by more than 75% compared to the first half of 2023. The capital also saw an extraordinary hiring spike in August 2023, after which volumes plummeted and remained subdued.
Manchester recorded a 60% drop over the same period. The city recorded higher job posting volumes through late 2023, followed by a steady decrease beginning in early 2024.
Birmingham and Bristol both faced declines in the range of 65% to 70%, showing similar sharp peaks in mid-2023 followed by consistent year-over-year reductions in job listings.
Leeds also registered a decline of nearly 60%, with vacancy numbers falling each quarter since Q3 2023.
The reduction in job postings was both significant and consistent throughout 2024 and into 2025. Even short-term recoveries – such as occasional month-on-month increases (e.g. June 2025 showed an 8% rise versus May) – failed to reverse the broader downward trend.
Occupational Demand Patterns Since 2023
Beyond the volume of job postings, the types of roles posted most frequently also reveal key trends in UK labour demand.
A group of occupations appeared regularly across nearly every month from 2023 to mid-2025. These included project managers, business development managers, support workers, maintenance engineers, and quantity surveyors. Most of these roles experienced modest decreases in postings over time, generally ranging from 10% to 20%, but remained consistently among the most listed throughout the period.
Across both the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025, the teaching assistant role remained the most frequently posted vacancy. Postings for this role declined by approximately 30% between mid-2024 and mid-2025, but it continued to appear more often than any other job title during that period.
Meanwhile, more fluctuating roles – such as chef, electrician, warehouse operative, and management accountant – moved in and out of the top-10 rankings. These positions entered and exited the top five at various points, with overall volumes gradually decreasing into 2025.
Overall, while the total number of posted jobs declined notably, the range of roles appearing most frequently remained largely consistent throughout the period.
Conclusion
From early 2023 to mid-2025, the UK labour market has seen a gradual and persistent decline in job postings, both nationally and locally. City-level data confirms that this pattern is not confined to specific geographies – even the country’s largest metropolitan areas have seen reductions of 60–75% in posted vacancies.
Occupational data reveals a similar trend: hiring for the most common roles has continued but at lower volumes, with jobs like teaching assistants and project managers maintaining top positions despite moderate declines.
While the NIC rise may not be the only contributing factor, its timing aligns with an ongoing decline in job posting volumes. Future developments in employer sentiment and policy will be important to monitor as the labour market continues to evolve.
About Jooble
Jooble is a global product-based IT company. Its main product is an international job search website that millions in 67 countries use daily. The website aggregates thousands of job openings from various sources on a single page. It is one of the top 10 most popular employment resources in terms of traffic in the Jobs And Employment segment, according to SimilarWeb.
The company has been operating in the online recruitment market since 2006. In its years of existence, it has gone from a startup founded by two students to a global employment platform.
Our mission is to help people find work. The company is constantly working to ensure that the employment process is as comfortable and fast as possible for both the applicant and the employer.
Jooble is a remote-first company. We believe that talented people can create cool projects no matter where they are.
Currently, there are 280+ professionals in our team who communicate in 25 different languages.