The UK’s job market has continued to weaken with the number of workers on payrolls falling in the first few months of the year and job vacancies declining again.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicated April’s increase in employer National Insurance contributions and the National Living Wage could be having an effect.<\/p>\n
The ONS figures also showed that wage growth slowed, but pay is still rising faster than the rate of inflation.<\/p>\n
Regular earnings, which exclude bonuses, grew at an annual pace of 5.6% in the first three months of the year.<\/p>\n
“The broader picture continues to be of the labour market cooling,” said the ONS’s director of economic statistics, Liz McKeown.<\/p>\n
The unemployment rate increased to 4.5% in the January to March period, the ONS said, up from the previous figure of 4.4%.<\/p>\n
However, the ONS has said its unemployment figures should be treated with caution because of low response rates to the survey on which they are based.<\/p>\n
Other ONS figures showing the number of employees on companies’ payrolls found the total fell by 47,000 in March and by an estimated 33,000 in April.<\/p>\n
Job vacancy numbers fell again. The estimated number of vacancies in the UK fell by 42,000 on the quarter, to 761,000 in February to April 2025.<\/p>\n
Some firms had warned that the changes to tax and the minimum wage that came into effect in April could affect recruitment.<\/p>\n