Graduate job vacancies plunge 43% to a decade low as firms blame AI and Labour's £25bn national insurance raid

Adzuna recorded just 7,826 graduate vacancies in September, the lowest total since the jobs platform started tracking the figure in 2016; competition has tightened to 2.33 jobseekers per role, the sharpest ratio in over two years. A majority of hiring managers polled by recruiter Reed said AI is directly cutting entry-level opportunities, while the CBI linked the pullback in junior hiring to unaffordable cost pressures from Labour's employer national insurance increase and minimum wage rises.

Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter warned: 'If a whole generation misses that first step onto the ladder, the gap doesn't close itself later.'

Across the UK, total vacancies dropped 11.9% year-on-year in September to 728,037, with logistics, IT and teaching among the sectors posting steep declines.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva this month described AI as 'a slow-moving tsunami' that she said would eliminate jobs and close off prospects for younger workers.