Only 8,383 UK graduate jobs advertised in July

Employers advertised just 8,383 UK graduate jobs in July, down 45.6% on the 15,397 listed a year earlier and the lowest monthly total since Adzuna began tracking the figure in 2016.

The July count undercuts the previous record low of 8,398, set only two months earlier in May, and extends a decline that has run for most of a decade.

Graduate vacancies peaked above 55,000 in mid-2017, leaving the current total roughly 85% below that high. Adzuna counts job adverts rather than hires, so the figure measures what employers put on the market rather than who they took on.

Competition across the wider market tightened over the same period. Adzuna recorded an average of 2.14 jobseekers per vacancy in July, up from 1.93 a year earlier and the widest annual gap the firm has logged this year.

Total UK vacancies fell 9.6% over the year to 791,490, the first monthly drop in five months. Non-graduate entry-level roles shrank too, falling 8% over the year to 192,864.

“July’s numbers are a step backwards, not a blip,” said Andrew Hunter, Co-Founder of Adzuna. Hunter said the graduate market keeps setting fresh lows, which indicates employers have not yet found a reason to open up hiring at that level, and that the annual vacancy decline worsened for the first time since January.

Average advertised pay slipped to £43,675 in July, down 0.73% since May. Salary growth has cooled from a peak of around 9% in May last year to roughly 3% now. Vacancies also took longer to fill, averaging 36.5 days against 35.4 days in May.

Where hiring still holds up

Teaching, travel, and trade and construction continued adding roles in July, with manufacturing joining them.

Healthcare, nursing, logistics, warehousing and hospitality all posted fewer vacancies. The south-east of England was the only UK region with annual vacancy growth, at 0.65%, while Scotland fell 21.4% and Northern Ireland 7.5%.

The figures land as a record 262,820 18-year-olds secure university places following this month’s A-level results.

Office for National Statistics data puts the number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training at 1,012,000 in the first quarter of 2026, or 13.5% of that age group. Youth unemployment stood at 16.2% in the three months to March.

Employers have pulled back on entry-level recruitment as the cost of hiring inexperienced staff has risen, following increases to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

Huw Pill, Chief Economist at the Bank of England, told MPs that both changes weighed particularly heavily on young workers. Large firms have also handed junior administrative work to artificial intelligence software, with the Big Four accountancy practices leading that shift – KPMG cut its graduate intake from 1,399 in 2023 to 942.

Andrew Griffith, shadow business secretary, said the figures were exactly what the government had been warned about when it raised National Insurance and added to employment regulation, and that hiring is the first thing firms cut back on.

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