Good news for jobs in the UK
Despite another poor month of job data, the UK should hopefully now be turning a corner and see increased hiring towards the end of the year.
This is the view of Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Chief Executive Neil Carberry, who was commenting on the country’s latest job data, which was published on Tuesday (16 September).
The latest UK labour market statistics show the jobs market lost further momentum in August. The number of payrolled employees fell by 142,000 between July 2024 and July 2025, and by 6,000 between June and July 2025.
Meanwhile, the unemployment figure held steady at 4.7%. Early estimates for August reveal the number of payrolled employees was 30.3 million, a fall of 0.4% compared to August 2024 and equivalent to 127,000 fewer employees.
On a monthly basis, the number of payrolled employees decreased by 8,000 in August compared to July. The largest increase came from the health and social work sector, which added 80,000 employees, while the accommodation and food service activities sector experienced the largest decrease with a fall of 90,000 employees.
“A slower labour market in the early summer is no surprise – it reflects what business surveys have been telling us,” said Carberry.
“Firms were struggling with low growth and rising employment costs from National Insurance to National Minimum Wage to energy, and from fears about the Employment Rights Bill.
“But the picture has steadied, and our members report a slightly brighter outlook for the rest of the year after a longer and tougher hiring summer slowdown than usual.”
Carberry noted that private sector wages are normalising, with upward pressure now driven by government choices on public sector pay and the National Minimum Wage.
This is significant, given the impact of these figures on the costly Pensions Triple Lock next year, he said.
“With more recent business surveys a little more positive than the early summer, employers want to see the government back them to deliver growth.
“That means a Budget without the nasty cost surprises of last year and far greater pragmatism on the delivery of their employment agenda. That would give firms the confidence to shift gears and help labour market momentum to build,” he said.
