Britain’s red hot jobs market is showing signs of cooling with the number of vacancies falling for the first time in two years, latest official figures reveal today.

There were 1.274 million job vacancies in the May to July quarter, a dip of 19,800, or 1.5%, the first drop since June to August 2020, according to the data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The number of unfilled posts has ballooned by 945,000 since then as desperate employers have scrambled to hire staff after the economy reopened following the first long lockdown.

At one stage earlier this year vacancies outnumbered unemployment for the first time - but now the two figures are in balance.

More detailed analysis of today’s ONS figures show that vacancies have fallen in each of the three months to July.

In another sign that the  post-Covid labour market might finally be easing the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 % in the quarter to 3.8%, the ONS said.

However, it will also raise concerns that employers are starting to shed staff as the economy slides into recession.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst Hargreaves Lansdown,  said: “Already it seems companies are being more cautious in their hiring, with a recession set to take hold in the UK amid the energy crisis, with consumers struggling to pay mounting bills.”

Nevertheless many London employers are still finding it hard to find staff particularly in sectors such as hospitality, tech and aviation, where shortages have brought havoc to airports over the summer holidays.

A new report today from website Caterer.com revealed that 196,000 international workers have left the hospitality sector – many in London – as a result of Brexit and the pandemic

It found that Immigration policies are deterring 89% of businesses from hiring overseas, with over a quarter of hospitality businesses not confident in the sponsor process.

Aude Barral, CCO of tech recruitment platform CodinGame, said: “Britain’s job creation engine has finally stalled. After months of progressively slower growth, the number of vacancies has at last started to fall.

“But this is a turning point, not a tragedy. By many measures, the jobs market is still in rude health - the unemployment rate remains low and many previously inactive people are now rejoining the labour market.

“In-demand tech professionals like software developers in particular are finding that it’s a jobseeker’s market, as employers offer a range of perks and benefits to woo the best candidates.”

But in a telling indicator that the global jobs market really is slowing tech giant Apple said that it was laying off 100 recruitment contractors, according to news wire Bloomberg.