GRADUATE JOB ADVERTS FALL TO 8,383, THE LOWEST SINCE 2016

🔴 8,383 graduate vacancies. That is the entire UK graduate market on Adzuna in July, down from 15,397 a year earlier.

BBC Business reports the jobs site recorded its lowest graduate vacancy count since it began tracking the data in 2016.

The scale of the drop is easier to see over a longer run. Adzuna's graduate listings peaked in 2017 at more than 55,800. July's figure is less than a sixth of that.

Adzuna points to employers cutting entry-level roles in favour of AI while also managing rising costs. Businesses have said employer national insurance and minimum wage increases made hiring more expensive, especially for junior staff.

Co-founder Andrew Hunter said employers "still haven't found a reason to open up hiring" for recent graduates.

Competition is rising across all levels, not just at the bottom. Adzuna counted 2.14 job seekers per vacancy in July, up from 1.93 a year earlier.

The official picture matches. Youth unemployment for 16-to-24-year-olds was 16.2% in the three months to March 2026, and the number of young people not in education, employment or training is now over one million.

Not every sector is shrinking. Adzuna said travel, teaching and construction vacancies rose in recent weeks, while healthcare, nursing, hospitality and logistics posted fewer.

Former minister Alan Milburn is leading a review of youth unemployment. He has said entry-level and part-time roles are both shrinking.

Graduates have told BBC News they applied for hundreds of jobs without a reply, and that AI is now screening those applications.

If you hire, are you replacing junior roles with AI, or just not hiring at all?

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