JOB vacancies are continuing to fall although sectors such as retail and logistics are seeing demand increase as companies prepare for the Christmas season, new research suggests.
Jobs site Adzuna said the number of vacancies in August fell by just under 1 per cent to 1,039,198, compared with July.
Annual advertised salaries edged down from July to August but remain 3.35 per cent higher than this time last year, the report said.
A trend for employers to post jobs without advertised salaries has continued, as businesses try to keep pay rates for new joiners confidential, according to Adzuna.
Teaching vacancies remains the biggest recruiting sector with more than 110,000 available positions in August, the study found.
Compared with last August, there are nearly twice as many teaching roles available.
Retail and logistics and warehouse sectors have seen the biggest monthly increase in advertised jobs, following strong growth in July, particularly at the big grocery chains.
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said: "The data continues to show some weakness across the UK economy with vacancies and salaries falling slightly, which might be expected in August, but not by as much as we usually see at this time of year.
"However, it may be that optimism earlier in the year that vacancies were on the climb is petering out.
"The drop in salaries registered demonstrates that employers are continuing to be cautious about growing their teams, while at the same time being wary of provoking requests from current employees for pay rises."
Tony Wilson, director at the Institute for Employment Studies, said: "This data lends more weight to the evidence that the labour market is loosening, with vacancies down on a year ago and signs that advertised salaries may have started to level off over the summer.
"Nonetheless, vacancies remain very high by historic standards, and the fact that firms are taking slightly longer to fill their jobs suggests that many are still struggling with finding the right candidates and skills."
