Retrospective exercise for 20 October 2026
A vacancy is a position, not an unemployed person
Learn why a labour-market story needs the measure, population, and period attached to every number.
Written and published . Archive study date: . This page does not claim it was available on the earlier date.
Use the published bulletin
Original source. The ONS October 2026 labour-market overview estimates 691,000 vacancies for July–September, down 21,000 from April–June. Its unemployment rate is 4.7% for people aged 16 and over in June–August. These estimates cover different units and overlapping but non-identical periods.
Label the denominator
Write “vacant positions” beside the first number and “share of the economically active population aged 16+” beside the unemployment rate. Do not subtract one from the other or describe a one-to-one matching problem. A vacancy can be filled by someone who already has a job, and an unemployed person may not match its location or requirements.
Note the uncertainty
The bulletin calls early payroll estimates provisional and discusses data quality. Before a market or policy inference, record which series is being revised and which observation is a survey estimate. The companion 21 October exercise explores the period differences in more detail.
Continue learning
Use the Macroeconomics route for the next concept, or browse the dated archive. Verify the original source for subsequent changes.