News · 18 June 2026
UK unemployment falls, but job vacancies hit a five-year low
Unsplash / Gregoire Jeanneau
The UK's unemployment rate dropped slightly to 4.9% in the three months to April, an unexpected improvement despite fears of layoffs because of the war in Iran. However, the number of job vacancies fell to its lowest in five years, by 19,000 to 707,000, as businesses held back on hiring. Average wages, excluding bonuses, grew by 4.4%, which was more than economists had predicted.
Reported by The Guardian · How we write briefs