Job vacancies have fallen back further as under-pressure small businesses rein in hiring in the face of rising costs and higher wage bills, official figures revealed today.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said regular average wage growth in the private sector also fell below 3 per cent for the first time since 2020, at 2.9 per cent in the three months to May.This is just below the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate average of 3.0 per cent for the same period.The latest figures showed there were 7,000 fewer vacancies in the quarter to June at 712,000, which follows a 19,000 drop in the previous three months.This was driven by smaller businesses, which saw vacancies fall 8,000, though this was partially offset by an increase among medium-sized firms, the ONS said.But the latest figures showed Britain's overall rate of unemployment held steady at 4.9 per cent in the three months to May, while the number of workers on UK payrolls fell by a better-than-feared 4,000 between May and June to 30.3million.Despite the drop in private sector earnings growth, overall regular wage growth remained unchanged at 3.4 per cent in the quarter to May thanks to a 5.5 per cent increase across the public sector, which the ONS said was affected by the timing of recent NHS pay awards.Regular earnings also continued to outstrip inflation, up 0.4 per cent with the CPI taken into account.Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said: 'The latest data show a relatively steady labour market picture overall, though some measures continue to suggest softening.'