Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 7 September 2026
source“Jobs drought deepens as redundancies rise and vacancies fall for the 34th month in a row”
R6/ 10
Spin-heavy
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates the Daily Mail's claim that the "jobs drought deepens" a 6/10 because the same REC-KPMG report it quotes also found permanent placements rose for the first time in four years, a detail the headline omits entirely.
The Verdict
Spin-heavy. Vacancies falling for a 34th month and redundancies rising are both real, correctly quoted numbers, but the headline's "deepens" framing buries a genuinely positive data point from the same report, the first rise in permanent placements in four years, that the survey's own author flagged as a possible turning point.
What actually happened
The REC-KPMG Report on Jobs for August found overall demand for staff fell for the 34th consecutive month, with permanent vacancies down at the same pace as July and short-term vacancy demand also falling. The same survey recorded people seeking work rising at the sharpest rate in three months, driven largely by redundancies. Buried later in the report: permanent placements rose slightly, the first such rise in four years, which KPMG's Jon Holt described as a possible "green shoot."
Key facts
- "Overall demand for staff fell for the thirty-fourth month in a row in August."
- "Permanent vacancies fell at a solid pace that was unchanged from July, while demand for short-term staff fell following a brief rise in the previous month."
- The number of people seeking new employment rose at the sharpest rate for three months in August, with redundancies described as "a prominent theme" behind the trend.
- Permanent placements rose slightly, "for the first time in four years," a data point absent from the headline.
- KPMG's Jon Holt said the jobs market "continues to contract overall" but called on the Budget to "turn these green shoots into sustained positive momentum."
What to watch for
Watch whether the placements uptick holds into September's report or proves a one-month blip; if it repeats, the "drought deepens" framing will look increasingly stale. Also watch how outlets cover next month's Budget response, since REC's Maxine Bligh explicitly tied the sector's fate to government policy on national insurance and guaranteed-hours rules, not just market conditions.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
