Stately

ONS · Labour market overview, UK (LMS time series)

Job vacancies

2026 Q2 Final

711,000vacancies

Job vacancies was 711,000 vacancies in 2026 Q2, down 2.6% (19,000) from 730,000 in 2025 Q2.

▼ 2.6% · −19,000 against 2025 Q2 (same quarter previous year)

  1. ONS estimate
  2. 2026 Q2
  3. published 17 August 2026
  4. AP2Y
  5. row “UK Vacancies (thousands) - Total”
  6. column “2026 Q2”
  7. cell value 711

2001 Q2 to 2026 Q2

Job vacancies: 2001 Q2 to 2026 Q2LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour0500k1m201020202001 Q2: 680,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262001 Q3: 664,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262001 Q4: 602,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262002 Q1: 619,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262002 Q2: 616,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262002 Q3: 609,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262002 Q4: 603,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262003 Q1: 593,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262003 Q2: 579,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262003 Q3: 592,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262003 Q4: 614,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262004 Q1: 624,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262004 Q2: 641,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262004 Q3: 654,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262004 Q4: 661,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262005 Q1: 643,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262005 Q2: 642,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262005 Q3: 621,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262005 Q4: 609,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262006 Q1: 599,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262006 Q2: 604,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262006 Q3: 611,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262006 Q4: 621,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262007 Q1: 642,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262007 Q2: 659,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262007 Q3: 684,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262007 Q4: 687,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262008 Q1: 698,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262008 Q2: 657,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262008 Q3: 615,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262008 Q4: 527,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262009 Q1: 464,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262009 Q2: 431,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262009 Q3: 436,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262009 Q4: 454,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262010 Q1: 465,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262010 Q2: 484,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262010 Q3: 455,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262010 Q4: 482,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262011 Q1: 482,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262011 Q2: 460,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262011 Q3: 464,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262011 Q4: 465,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262012 Q1: 467,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262012 Q2: 474,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262012 Q3: 488,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262012 Q4: 501,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262013 Q1: 506,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262013 Q2: 533,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262013 Q3: 548,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262013 Q4: 573,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262014 Q1: 615,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262014 Q2: 662,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262014 Q3: 686,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262014 Q4: 708,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262015 Q1: 729,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262015 Q2: 730,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262015 Q3: 742,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262015 Q4: 745,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262016 Q1: 745,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262016 Q2: 748,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262016 Q3: 756,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262016 Q4: 753,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262017 Q1: 766,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262017 Q2: 792,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262017 Q3: 806,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262017 Q4: 815,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262018 Q1: 808,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262018 Q2: 841,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262018 Q3: 853,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262018 Q4: 848,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262019 Q1: 837,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262019 Q2: 835,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262019 Q3: 827,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262019 Q4: 799,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262020 Q1: 788,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262020 Q2: 343,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262020 Q3: 499,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262020 Q4: 586,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262021 Q1: 621,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262021 Q2: 883,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262021 Q3: 1,132,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262021 Q4: 1,244,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262022 Q1: 1,259,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262022 Q2: 1,294,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262022 Q3: 1,235,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262022 Q4: 1,138,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262023 Q1: 1,089,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262023 Q2: 1,029,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262023 Q3: 984,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262023 Q4: 923,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262024 Q1: 893,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262024 Q2: 872,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262024 Q3: 840,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262024 Q4: 805,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262025 Q1: 775,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262025 Q2: 730,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262025 Q3: 729,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262025 Q4: 739,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262026 Q1: 718,000 vacancies · published 17 August 20262026 Q2: 711,000 vacancies · published 17 August 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

The estimated number of unfilled jobs for which employers are actively recruiting, from the ONS Vacancy Survey, seasonally adjusted.

What this doesn’t measure

Vacancies in agriculture, forestry and fishing, or in businesses with fewer than one employee, which the survey does not cover.

Important caveat

The Vacancy Survey asks businesses about unfilled jobs they are actively trying to fill. It excludes agriculture, forestry and fishing and the very smallest businesses, so it is not a count of every job going. Figures are three-month averages.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
ONS
Publication
Labour market overview, UK (LMS time series)
Release
Labour market overview, UK: August 2026, published 17 August 2026
Source file
ons_labour_market.json
File SHA-256
9995a0293e3629add1cf76516e37f3e60f0be365343415867ab5fa687950e0fc
Retrieved
3 September 2026
Sheet
LMS
Table
AP2Y
Row
UK Vacancies (thousands) - Total
Column
2026 Q2
Cell value
711 (× 1,000 = 711,000 vacancies)
Geography
United Kingdom
Unit
vacancies
API
/api/metrics/vacancies · /series · /vintages

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–872,0002024 Q2711,0002026 Q2↓ 18.5%
Conservative 2019–2024827,0002019 Q3872,0002024 Q2↑ 5.4%
Conservative 2017–2019766,0002017 Q1827,0002019 Q3↑ 8.0%
Conservative 2015–2017729,0002015 Q1766,0002017 Q1↑ 5.1%
Coalition 2010–2015465,0002010 Q1729,0002015 Q1↑ 56.8%
Labour 2005–2010643,0002005 Q1465,0002010 Q1↓ 27.7%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Labour market overview, UK: August 2026 · publication page
Last updated
17 August 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)