Fears about job cuts, growing competition for new roles and the uncertain economic outlook are prompting many employees to hold tight to their current jobs, a new analysis suggests. It marks a reversal of the job-hopping seen during the so-called “great resignation” and is now being dubbed “the great stay”.
The number of job moves in the UK fell to 709,000 between April and June this year, sharply down from 1.1 million recorded during the peak of the post-pandemic job boom in late 2021. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that job vacancies have continued to fall, with 718,000 openings in the three months to July 2025, compared with 1.3 million in early 2022.
Jack Kennedy, a senior economist at the job search site Indeed, told The Telegraph, “It’s definitely not the jobseekers’ market that we saw two or three years ago. We’ve definitely seen a substantial cooling in the market, and we’re seeing that employers are cautious at the moment.”
Redundancy fears, hiring freezes
The change in labour market conditions is being felt by workers at all levels. Fresh rounds of lay-offs, concerns about artificial intelligence replacing jobs and a steady rise in unemployment are discouraging employees from searching for new positions, reports say. Even those who were previously unhappy in their roles are now more likely to stay put, out of concern they could be at risk if redundancies are announced.
Tera Allas, a senior adviser at the consultancy McKinsey, told The Telegraph that uncertainty about the economy was “giving people that extra layer of uncertainty or certainly a sense that now it might be more risky to be moving jobs”. She added that while the great resignation was fuelled by the availability of roles, the balance has now shifted towards caution, with the number of unemployed people per vacancy rising from one in June 2022 to 2.3 in June 2025.
“There’s going to be a lot more competition for any new job. Therefore, anybody looking to move is going to be thinking, ‘Am I going to get this new job?’” Allas said.
Higher costs, fewer incentives
The increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the October 2024 Budget, has raised the cost of employing staff and led many businesses to cut roles or freeze hiring. The rise, from 13.8 percent to 15 percent, has cost companies an estimated £25bn, further dampening demand for new hires.
Kennedy said higher labour costs and slow economic growth were contributing to a “wait-and-see attitude among employers”. The cooling labour market has also affected wages, with average weekly earnings for private sector workers growing by 4.8 percent in the three months to June, down from the rapid rises seen in 2021.
For those entering the workforce, conditions are especially tough. Figures from jobs site Indeed show that vacancies for entry-level roles have dropped to their lowest level since the pandemic. Kennedy said graduate hiring was “running at one of the lowest levels we’ve seen in recent years”.
Younger workers who are already in employment are also uneasy. A survey published by The Work Foundation at Lancaster University this year found that nearly half of workers aged 16 to 24 fear losing their jobs. With unemployment rising and fewer roles on offer, both workers and employers are having to adjust to a new labour market reality, one where job security is prized and the “great stay” is likely to continue.
