Job vacancies within the UK have fallen for the eighth time in a row as firms blamed financial pressures for holding again on hiring new employees.

The official figures come a day forward of Wednesday’s Price range when the chancellor is anticipated to set out plans to encourage folks again into work.

The variety of jobs on supply between December and February fell by 51,000 in contrast with the three months earlier than.

Regardless of the drop, the variety of job vacancies stays excessive at 1.1 million.

There are additionally 328,000 extra vacancies in comparison with the pre-pandemic interval of between January and March 2020.

The speed of financial inactivity – folks aged between 16 to 64 who usually are not in work and never looking for a job – dipped to 21.3% between November and January.

This was pushed by youthful folks aged between 16 to 24 both getting jobs or on the lookout for work.

Nonetheless, there are nonetheless 9 million economically inactive Britons who usually are not a part of the workforce both as a result of they’re college students, have retired or are affected by long-term sickness.

On Wednesday, it’s anticipated that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will element how the federal government intends to entice folks again into work. One measure anticipated to be introduced is a lift to the quantity that folks can save for his or her pensions earlier than it’s taxed.

Danni Hewson, head of economic evaluation at AJ Bell mentioned this transfer was “an extremely welcome begin”, however added: “It does little to deal with labour points on the decrease finish of finish of the size.”

James Reed, chairman of recruitment agency Reed, mentioned that whereas there was a fall in new jobs “it’s not trigger to panic”.

He informed the BBC’s In the present day programme: “Truly there are over 300,000 extra vacancies than there have been this time pre-pandemic, three years in the past, so the labour market is fairly buoyant nonetheless which is stunning many individuals.”

Robin Clevett, a self-employed carpenter and joiner who manages as much as 10 subcontractors on building tasks, mentioned that he was having to show down work as a result of there usually are not sufficient expert employees out there.

“Enterprise is actually buoyant for the time being,” he informed the BBC. “Everybody wants trades – they want folks to do insulation work, they want folks to do new builds, refurbish previous builds, change cladding. There’s a lot work however there’s not sufficient labour to go round in order that’s what has pushed this large demand and adverts in every single place for all types of trades.”

He added: “I personally gained’t tackle work now realizing I’m not going to search out the employees. So I’m turning down alternatives.”