July 2026 UK Economy and Labour Market Report from Change Specialists
July 28, 2026
Change Specialists UK Economy and Labour Market Report – July 2026
The indicators we watch when planning change and transformation capability. Every figure comes straight from the Office for National Statistics or the Bank of England, and shows the period it covers.
Checked 19 August 2026. Official statistics are published monthly or quarterly, so each figure shows its own reference period rather than today's date.
Sources. Office for National Statistics (series codes shown on each card) and the Bank of England (IUDBEDR), both Crown copyright and reproduced under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are fetched directly from those sources, not copied from summaries. The small chart on each card plots the last 13 published readings for that same series.
Change Specialists UK Economy and Labour Market Report – July 2026
Change Specialists UK Economy and Labour Market Report – June 2026
Change Specialists UK Economy and Labour Market Report – May 2026
Change Specialists UK Economy and Labour Market Report – April 2026
Change Specialists UK Economy and Labour Market Report – March 2026
Change Specialists UK Economy and Labour Market Report – February 2026
Unemployment at 5.1%, employment 75.1% and inflation 3.4% – with hiring slowing, vacancies subdued and business investment uneven. Our read on what it means for workforce planning.
Unemployment up to 5%, employment 75% and inflation easing to 3.6%. Vacancies levelling off at 723,000 with job postings up 2.1% – and what the Budget could unlock.
Job postings up 11.3% in September as hiring warms up post-summer. Unemployment 4.8%, employment 75.1%, inflation 3.8% – and what it means for 2026 planning.
Unemployment rises to 4.7% as the market cools, but employment edges up to 75.2% and inactivity falls. Earnings growth holds at 4.8% – and employers gain candidate choice.
Vacancies down 63,000 to 736,000 and payrolled employees falling, but the pace of decline is slowing – the weakest rate of vacancy contraction since September 2024.
Active job adverts show steady demand for workers despite slow progress in the wider economy – employers hiring cautiously amid economic and political uncertainty.