Official data has revealed that the redundancy rate increased to 3.4 per 1,000 employees in September to November last year but remains low, as experts mark this an “unconventional recession”.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics’s (ONS) recent labour market overview found that uncertainty was still rife for businesses, as the number of vacancies in October to December decreased by 75,000 from July to September 2022 – to 1,161,000. Respondents told ONS that economic pressure caused them to “hold back” on recruitment.

But despite “six consecutive quarterly falls”, the number of vacancies remains at “historically high levels”.

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James Reed, chairman of Reed, said the figures corroborated with Reed’s own data from the first two weeks of this year, as total job postings on the site were down 25 per cent compared to the same period last year, but applications increased by 20 per cent year on year.

Reed described the labour market as “stubbornly buoyant”, with the ONS figures on redundancy rates and vacancy levels pointing to an “unconventional recession”.

“It is more likely we will see labour hoarding from businesses keen to hold on to the talent needed to support growth when the economy begins to recover,” explained Reed, but he predicted that the window of opportunity for those...

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