The official picture. The Office for National Statistics put UK vacancies at 707,000 for May to July 2026, down 6,000 (0.8%) on the quarter — a continuation of a long, shallow decline rather than a drop. Unemployment was 4.9% and regular pay was growing at 3.5% a year. ONS, 18 August 2026
That number counts vacancies. It does not say what they are for, or what they pay. Our index does, because it is built from the adverts themselves.
What those jobs advertise as pay
Median advertised salary, national, with the evidence behind each figure:
| occupation | median | adverts | employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cargo vehicle driver | £32,175 | 2,959 | 223 |
| Maintenance and repair engineer | £46,000 | 1,670 | 182 |
| Commercial sales representative | £30,000 | 1,449 | 153 |
| Welder | £37,050 | 1,055 | 171 |
| Electrician | £42,240 | 870 | 149 |
Every figure clears our publishing floor: at least 30 advertised salaries from at least 5 distinct employers, with no single advertiser accounting for more than 30% of them.
Method, and what this is not
These are advertised salaries, read from the text of job adverts — not paid salaries, not a survey, and not a sample designed to represent the workforce. They describe what employers are offering to attract applicants, which is a different and more immediate thing than what people currently earn.
We publish no figure below 30 adverts from 5 employers, every number carries its n, and where a figure is not supported by the advert it came from we publish nothing at all rather than a best guess.
Where our data disagrees with the ONS, the ONS is measuring the labour market and we are measuring the advertising of it.