UK vacancies per 100 employee jobs: manufacturing
UK vacancies per 100 employee jobs: manufacturing stood at 2 ratio in Jun 2026, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is one of the indicators in the Labour market table (Value · Monthly), with a complete series running from May 2001 to Jun 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Labour market table
| Indicator | 06-2026 | 05-2026 | 04-2026 | 03-2026 | 02-2026 | 01-2026 | 12-2025 | 11-2025 | 10-2025 | 09-2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vacancies per 100 employee jobs, by industry | |||||||||||
| C Manufacturing | 2 | 2 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2 | |
| F Construction | 1.9 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
Understanding UK vacancies per 100 employee jobs: manufacturing
Active recruitment positions per hundred established employee jobs within manufacturing firms across the United Kingdom standardise industrial vacancy data against the existing workforce size. This ratio measures the relative intensity of labour demand within goods production, factories, and assembly plants, allowing analysts to gauge hiring pressure independent of absolute sector size. The calculation divides the count of unfilled factory positions by total employee jobs plus vacancies, omitting self-employed artisans, agency workers not on direct payrolls, and primary extraction industries.
Interpreting this ratio requires recognising that manufacturing often experiences structural automation trends where rising output coincides with stable or declining staffing levels, changing the baseline denominator. Early estimates are subject to revision as industrial survey respondents update their payroll figures. Analysts should evaluate the ratio alongside manufacturing output data to determine whether high vacancy rates reflect business expansion or persistent recruitment difficulties. Comparing this manufacturing ratio directly with service-sector equivalents can be deceptive due to different shift patterns and capital-to-labour ratios.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a rising ratio indicate for factories?
- A rising ratio signals that manufacturers are struggling to fill open posts relative to their existing headcount, pointing to acute recruitment shortages.
- Are agency workers included in the employment denominator?
- No, the denominator strictly counts direct employee jobs on formal company payrolls alongside active vacancies.
- Why standardise vacancies per hundred jobs?
- Standardisation allows fair comparison between large industries and smaller sectors by measuring vacancies relative to total established employment.