UK jobs boom cools as vacancies slip below pre-Covid level

UK online job advertisements slipped below pre-Covid levels for the first time in almost two years, adding to evidence that Britain's red-hot labor market is cooling in a recession. A sharp slowdown in manufacturing hiring led to a 16% drop in total job ads in the first week of January compared to a year earlier in another sign of the jobs boom easing, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. Vacancies were at the lowest since April 2021, when the UK was emerging from a pandemic lockdown. Online ads were 3% below the previous week and slipped in all UK regions except Northern Ireland.