LONDON / RankWire.AI / – According to recent figures from Adzuna, the number of graduate job openings across the UK declined by almost 46% in July compared to the same month last year. The platform tracked 8,383 active graduate vacancies, a significant decrease from 15,397 in July 2025. This marks the lowest level since Adzuna initiated its monthly graduate jobs series in April 2016. The current total is also well below the peak of over 55,000 vacancies recorded in 2017 during the series’ high point.
Meanwhile, competition within the broader UK employment market has also intensified during this period. Adzuna’s data shows there were 2.14 jobseekers per vacancy in July, an increase from 1.93 a year earlier. This metric encompasses the overall labour market and not exclusively graduate roles. Since Adzuna consolidates online job ads from over 1,000 sources, its graduate vacancy count does not include every available position for university leavers.
Additionally, official labour market statistics indicate a decline in vacancies across the UK economy. The Office for National Statistics estimated that between May and July 2026, there were 707,000 vacancies. This figure is 6,000 fewer than the previous three months and 19,000 less than the same period last year. The ONS also reported a ratio of 2.5 unemployed individuals per vacancy from April through June, up from 2.3 a year earlier.
Graduate recruitment faces challenges amid rising competition
The downward trend coincides with a record number of young people preparing to start higher education. UCAS announced that 262,820 UK 18-year-olds had secured undergraduate places by results day on August 13. This figure is 3% higher than the 255,130 recorded at the same point last year. The admission rate for UK 18-year-olds remains steady at 31.6%, despite the rise in accepted applications.
Separate recruitment data also point to fierce competition for prominent graduate schemes. The Institute of Student Employers stated that participating employers received just over one million graduate applications during the 2024/25 recruitment cycle. On average, each graduate vacancy attracted 140 applications, according to their latest student recruitment survey. The organization noted that application numbers among the employers they studied continued to hit record levels.
The UK job market remains subdued overall
Since April 2025, hiring expenses have been influenced by previously announced tax changes. The employer National Insurance rate increased to 15% from 13.8%, while the secondary threshold dropped to £5,000 from £9,100 annually. Feedback from the ONS vacancy survey indicates some small businesses are limiting recruitment due to higher labour and operational costs. Its latest data shows vacancies falling in nine out of eighteen industry sectors.
Artificial intelligence has also entered the discussion concerning entry-level jobs, although official evaluations remain cautious about its precise impact. Skills England mentioned in August that isolating AI’s influence from broader labour market trends remains challenging. Furthermore, ONS figures reveal that during January to March 2026, 1.012 million young people aged 16 to 24 were neither in education, employment nor training. This group accounts for 13.5% of all young people in that age bracket, representing an increase of 89,000 from the previous year.