New graduates coming into the jobs’ market this summer will face a real bun fight, research has warned, with graduate vacancies down 12% on last year and the scramble for jobs even tougher than during the pandemic.
The research, from jobs platform Indeed, has argued that graduate roles are running at their weakest level since at least 2018.
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The Mid-Year Labour Market update concluded that, as of 13 June, roles were down 12% on last year as a share of all jobs, with graduate jobs down 33% in absolute terms.
Roles were even pacing below their share in 2020 and 2021, when pandemic social distancing made it difficult for employers to assimilate new joiners.
The scarcity of graduate positions has comes amid a labour market where many employers have been holding on to existing staff while cutting back on new hires, Indeed concluded.
Overall, UK job postings are down 5% on their level at the end of Q1, and now sit 21% below their 1 February 2020 level, the pre-pandemic baseline, the data found.
The UK remains an outlier among peer economies in Europe and the US, being the only country tracked that has not recovered from pre-pandemic levels, the recruiter added.
The ratio of unemployed people for each vacancy increased from 1.0 in 2022 to 2.2 as of April 2025.
One positive within the gloom, however, was that fears April’s hike in employment costs would lead companies to lay off staff do not appear to have materialised, at least so far.
The number of potential redundancies notified to the government has remained low at around 25,000 per month, with little sign of any uptick in recent months, said Indeed.
Looking at the situation by sector, retail and hospitality jobs had not seen outsized declines despite April’s rise in employment costs, argued Indeed. Retail postings were down 2%, while food service was down 10%, and hospitality and tourism down 11%.
Looking by geography, job postings in the south east and London continue to underperform other regions (down 32% and 29% respectively from their pre-pandemic baselines), it added.
The share of UK job postings mentioning remote or hybrid work remains high, at 15%, as of end-May, it also found. This was down from a peak of 16.6% back in March, but still well above the levels of around 3% seen pre-pandemic.
Despite attention on return-to-office (RTO) calls from a number of businesses, remote and hybrid work continues to be widely offered, even in categories such as banking & finance (39%, down from a peak of 45% in February 2024), it also found.
Ahead of proposed legislative changes around zero-hours contracts, the share of job postings mentioning these arrangements has started to ebb, standing at 1.8% as of May. This was down from a peak of 2.2% back in January, said Indeed.
Job postings related to generative AI continue to grow rapidly as organisations develop and integrate these new technologies in their businesses. GenAI jobs now represented 0.5% of all postings, as of end-May, the platform added.
Jack Kennedy, senior economist at Indeed, said: “The UK labour market headed into 2025 amid expectations that it would be a challenging year. Approaching mid-way, that’s largely proven to be the case. That said, it has weathered headwinds such as the policy-driven rise in employment costs and global volatility, in that it’s been a continued gradual softening rather than a nosedive.
“While hiring appetite is weak, job losses have remained modest and the labour market is still somewhat tight by historical standards, supporting gradually easing but still strong wage growth.
“Despite the UK labour market holding out overall, new entrants like graduates face a challenging time in securing a first rung on the ladder. This signals a wider landscape of employers holding onto existing staff, while some observers contend that entry-level roles in professional occupations are particularly exposed to AI displacement,” Kennedy added.
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