Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the UK rate of unemployment was 4.1 per cent over the three months to July, dropping from 4.2% over the previous three months and marking the lowest since the three months to January.
However, vacancies fell once again, dropping by 42,000 quarter-on-quarter to 857,000 in the three months to August.
More real-time figures showed the number of payrolled workers fell by 59,000 between July and August to 30.3 million.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that regular wage growth fell to 5.1 per cent year on year over the three months to July, marking the lowest level since the quarter to July 2022.
Jane Gratton, Deputy Director of Public Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “There are some further signs of loosening in the jobs market as vacancies continue to fall and wage growth slows.
“But pay continues to outpace inflation by some margin and high levels of economic inactivity mean recruitment difficulties are likely to persist.
“With over 850,000 more people no longer seeking work than before the pandemic, this remains a big concern.
“Dig deeper into this data and the numbers who are inactive due to long-term sickness have increased by more than 650,000 since early 2020.
“The autumn statement presents a key opportunity to reverse this trend. Action needs to be taken to help employers promote good health and wellbeing and for people not to fall out of work unnecessarily.
“Removing the tax on workplace medical insurance and cash health plans for employers and their people would encourage more take up.”
More detail on the ONS data can be found here.
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