UK job vacancies: accommodation and food services
UK job vacancies: accommodation and food services stood at 70 thousands in Jul 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 Jul 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Labour market table
| Indicator | 07-2026 | 06-2026 | 05-2026 | 04-2026 | 03-2026 | 02-2026 | 01-2026 | 12-2025 | 11-2025 | 10-2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job vacancies by industry | |||||||||||
| I Accommodation and food services | 70 | 71 | 70 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 75 | 77 | |
| J Information and communication | 36 | 38 | 40 | 39 | 39 | 37 | 40 | 38 | 37 | 34 |
Understanding UK job vacancies: accommodation and food services
Unfilled job openings located inside hospitality establishments, catering businesses, hotels, and food service enterprises across the United Kingdom measure the volume of vacant positions currently advertised for external recruitment. This category isolates tourism, lodging, and dining operations from sibling industry classifications that track manufacturing, retail sales, or office-based administration. The metric records positions where employing units actively seek staff from outside their existing workforce, leaving out roles managed through internal restructuring or permanent staff transfers.
Reading these figures demands careful attention to pronounced seasonal patterns linked to holiday periods, tourism influxes, and the frequent hiring cycles characteristic of food and lodging establishments. Preliminary monthly figures routinely face numerical revision as businesses complete late survey submissions regarding their open staff positions. Analysts must prioritise annual comparisons over month-on-month shifts to filter out regular tourism troughs and hospitality hiring spikes. Cross-referencing these vacancies with claimant counts offers insight into recruitment friction within consumer service industries.
Frequently asked questions
- Which specific commercial activities form this hospitality series?
- The data encompasses hotels, holiday accommodation, restaurants, pubs, canteens, catering services, and licensed beverage operations across the United Kingdom.
- Are self-employed workers or agency contractors counted in these vacancies?
- Only formal employee positions open to external applicants and advertised through recruitment channels are captured, excluding direct contractor arrangements.
- Why is year-on-year comparison preferred over consecutive month analysis?
- Annual evaluation removes the heavy distortion caused by predictable tourism rhythms and seasonal hotel closures that occur at specific times each year.