UK job vacancies hit new high after furlough ends

UK job vacancies soared to a record high of 1.24 million between October and December, according to new data.

The figures are the first to exclude the impact of the government's furlough scheme which ended on 31 September.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that job vacancies were 462,000 higher compared to the three months before the pandemic.

Regular pay, excluding bonuses, grew at an annual rate of 3.8% between September and November, the ONS said.

The ONS added that pay was showing "minimal growth" when compared to rises in the cost of living.

In November, the inflation rate rose to 5.1% and is expected to reach at least 6% in spring, according to the Bank of England.

Companies added 184,000 people to their payrolls between November and December, taking the total to 29.5 million.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in the three months to November.

Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said the total number of people on payrolls was "now well above pre-pandemic levels".

He added: "New survey figures show that in the three months to November, the unemployment rate fell back almost to where it was before Covid-19 hit."

However he said that while job vacancies had reached a new record, "they are now growing more slowly than they were last summer".