The downturn in vacancies and job opportunities come as businesses struggle to deal with the increases in National Insurance contributions (NICs) and other rising costs.

Just 57% of private sector employers plan to recruit staff in the next three months, down from 65% in autumn 2024, according to the CIPD’s latest Labour Market Outlook.  The hospitality and care sectors, and organisations that hire young people, have been hit the hardest by rising employment costs.

The impact of rising taxes is being felt by the majority of employers and is beginning to impact salary rises, the number of vacancies advertised with a surplus of candidates for jobs amid reports of increasing number of redundancies, according to the KPMG REC UK jobs report.