Job vacancies fell last month as Britain’s factory output fell for the first time in four years, in signs that the economy is slowing down after two months of no growth.

There were almost 720,000 new adverts in August, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), down 3.2pc compared to the previous month.

It came as separate data from Make UK also showed manufacturers were holding back from hiring as industrial output contracted for the first time since late 2020. 

The figures will add to the case for cutting interest rates when members of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) meet this Thursday. 

Rate-setters lowered the base rate from 5.25pc to 5pc last month, the first cut in four years. 

However, the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, has stressed that the MPC needs “to be careful not to cut interest rates too quickly or by too much” to ensure inflation keeps falling. Investors currently expect the Bank to hold rates unchanged this week.

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