UK job vacancies tumble across the board

The UK jobs market has continued to cool as vacancies fell and the number of people on payrolls dropped, the latest official figures suggest.

Job openings fell by 5.8% to 718,000 between May to July across nearly all industries, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It said there was evidence that some firms may not be recruiting new workers or replacing people who have left.

Initial estimates also indicated that the number of payrolled employees slipped between April and June, with the steepest drop in the hospitality and retail sectors.