The number of graduate jobs has fallen almost in half in the past year, according to new figures, as employers cut entry-level roles in favour of AI and battle rising costs.

Jobs website Adzuna said it had just 8,383 graduate vacancies listed in July, down from 15,397 at the same point last year.

Adzuna also found competition among job seekers across all levels is rising, with an average of 2.14 job seekers per vacancy in July, up from 1.93 a year earlier.

Businesses have said employer national insurance and minimum wage hikes have made hiring more expensive, particularly for junior staff.

The number of graduate vacancies listed hit its lowest level since Adzuna started recording such data in 2016. The firm pointed to a peak for graduate roles in 2017, when it had more than 55,800 listed on its website. That is more than six times the number of roles listed on the site in July.

Andrew Hunter, the co-founder of Adzuna, said the figures show “employers still haven’t found a reason to open up hiring” for recent graduates.

Official figures show the UK’s youth unemployment rate – which covers 16-to-24-year-olds – was 16.2% in the three months to March 2026. The number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) is now over one million.

Young people have told BBC News previously they have applied for hundreds of jobs before even receiving a response.

They also expressed frustration at the growing number of employers using AI to screen applications.

Many university graduates also face mounting student debt.

Former government minister Alan Milburn is leading a major review of the youth unemployment crisis. He has previously said the number of entry-level jobs is shrinking, as is the number of part-time jobs traditionally filled by teenagers and students.

The Adzuna data also showed vacancies for jobs in travel, teaching and construction rose in recent weeks.

But sectors including healthcare, nursing, hospitality and logistics posted fewer vacancies.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently changed the rules for public contracts so that companies bidding for them have to show how they will create jobs and training opportunities.

The US Treasury Secretary has threated Iran with “the single greatest financial offensive ever”, claiming the US-Israel war with Iran was “entering its endgame”.

Scott Bessent said the US would sever all economic ties with the country in “an economic D-Day” and that any nation partnering with Iran financially would also be isolated.

Bessent’s threat to the Iranian regime follows several U-turns and extended deadlines from US President Donald Trump’s administration on previous threats.

Iran dismissed Bessent’s comments and said it would shut down all oil exports from the region “if the war continues”, according to news agency Reuters.

The Iranian regime has also issued a new warning to shipping not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without its permission, the agency reported.

One fifth of the world’s oil and gas usually passes through strait, a waterway south of Iran, but the flow has been effectively blocked by the country since the conflict began at the end of February.

Bessent made the comments in an opinion piece for the Financial Times, external. He did not detail what the economic pressure on Iran would involve, but he is expected to do so in a press conference in the US at 13:00 local time (18:00 BST) on Monday.

“The world should understand that our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains the tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” he wrote in the piece.

The US has made several threats to Iran over the course of its war with the country, including Trump saying in April that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” unless Iran agreed a deal to end the war and unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

The US eventually climbed down from that position after mediator Pakistan intervened and called for more diplomacy.

The Iranian regime already faces tough economic sanctions from the US.

Former US president Barrack Obama and several US allies had agreed a deal with the country in 2015 which lifted many sanctions in return for Iran agreeing to limit its nuclear programme.

However, Trump pulled out of that deal in 2018, calling it “defective at its core, and reimposed all US sanctions on Iran.

During Joe Biden’s term as US president, he made some attempts to reinstate the Obama-era deal, but this did not happen.

In April this year, the Trump administration launched a wave of sanctions on foreign banks and firms doing business with Tehran after it became clear its military operations had not caused Iran’s regime to surrender.