The number of UK online job advertisements in all industries was down 18% year over year at the start of this month compared to the same period last year, according to index data released by the UK Office for National Statistics. The data is from job board operator Adzuna.

Despite the year-over-year drop, the number of job ads edged up slightly — by under 1% — in the week ended 6 April compared to the previous week ended 31 March.

Job adverts for “HR and recruitment” roles posted the largest decrease, falling 53% year over year. The next-largest decreases were in “creative/design/arts & media” and “manufacturing”; indexes measuring job adverts in these categories were down 48% each.

Some job advert index numbers rose year over year in the week of 6 April. “Education” was up 35%, “wholesale and retail” recorded an increase of 11% and “energy/oil & gas” was up 8%.