Competition among job-seekers hit its most intense level in three years in August, according to Adzuna, in a sign that the labour market continues to cool.
The job search engine reported that there were 2.09 jobseekers per vacancy last month after another fall in vacancies and a slight uptick in redundancies.
This was the highest number of job-seekers per vacancy since May 2021.
Vacancies fell 0.5 per cent month-on-month in August to 857,765, down over 17 per cent compared to the same month last year.
On the supply side the figures showed that 154,000 claimants entered the jobs market between June and August.
The figures showed that job-seekers faced least competition in the south of England and London, whereas job hunters in Northern Ireland faced the most competition.
RegionJobseeker per vacancySouth West England1.37South East England1.44Eastern England1.74London2.26East Midlands2.39Scotland2.45Wales2.62North West England2.74Yorkshire And The Humber2.99West Midlands3.28North East England3.56Northern Ireland5.62Source: Adzuna
Tony Wilson, director at the Institute for Employment Studies, said the figures would be a “bit disappointing” for those who had been looking for “greener shoots” in the labour market.
“Nonetheless, stepping back a bit, it does look like vacancies are definitely levelling off at around 850,000, competition for jobs is returning to more normal levels and employers are filling their jobs pretty quickly,” he said.
Wilson argued that the Bank of England should have “more confidence” to lower interest rates following the figures.
The Bank is concerned that a tight labour market might help fuel inflationary pressures, particularly in the labour intensive services sector.
Official figures suggest that annual wage growth including bonuses slowed to 4.0 per cent, its slowest pace of growth since November 2020 and down from peaks of over eight per cent last summer.