UK Hiring Rate Fell 14% in April 2026 as 30 Entry-Level Occupations Declined

Britain’s overall hiring rate fell 14% in April 2026, while 30 of 38 tracked entry-level occupations also declined, highlighting pressure on young workers as graduate hiring followed a separate path.

The year-over-year drop covered the overall UK hiring rate. Among entry-level occupations with enough activity to track, software engineer hiring fell 27% and accountant hiring dropped 29%. Finance hiring fell at comparable rates across entry-level, management and senior positions.

Graduate hiring reflected a different period and employer group. Digital and IT graduate hiring fell 46% in 2024-25, then ranked among the fastest-growing sectors in 2025-26. Overall graduate hiring among employers with structured early-careers programs rose 4% that year. A few large employers drove much of the increase. Without major outliers, growth was 0.8%, and the median employer saw no change. The survey offers less visibility into small and medium-sized businesses.

Payrolled employment covered 50.6% of people aged 16 to 24 in December 2025, down from 54.9% three years earlier. The 4.3-percentage-point decline represents about 330,000 people. The figure does not isolate technology or finance jobs.

Artificial intelligence may be one factor in the hiring changes, but the figures do not establish that it caused them. The weakest entry-level results included jobs where AI tools have become more capable, while hiring also weakened at other seniority levels. “More evidence is needed to understand the roles of minimum wages, youth mental health, AI and other factors,” said Jed Michael, a research economist.

The UK government published its Digital and Technologies Jobs Plan on Wednesday, Oct. 21, with an ambition to create around 200,000 entry-level roles, including apprenticeships, over the next decade. That would average about 20,000 roles a year. The plan backs the £20 million Early Careers Jobs Alliance, where employers, unions and young people will examine how AI could reshape entry-level work. The jobs target is an ambition, not a forecast.

The UK figures add a labor-market example to concerns raised in an IMF warning about AI and young workers.