Are wages or profits to blame for the inflation crisis? July 26, 2023 A lot of energy has been wasted on finding the source of the near two-year long global inflation surge. It has resembled a cathartic process to help families and businesses come to terms with how damaging the cost of living crisis has been. First Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey drew scorn for demanding workers [...]
UK vacancies run at 1m in every month for last two years July 24, 2023 UK businesses are still hungry to take on workers despite the economy slowing under the weight of high inflation and interest rates, a new survey out today shows. Vacancies are up for the fifth month in a row and have now been at least 1m in every month since June 2021, according to research by [...]
Pay growth stays at three decade high but inflation still stripping away wages July 19, 2023 Pay growth is running at its fastest pace in over three decades and has remained unchanged for the second quarter in a row, in a sign the Bank of England may have to back a bigger interest rate hike again next month. New figures out today from XpertHR reveal wages leapt six per cent in [...]
Income for richest UK households is nearly four times larger than poorest, ONS finds July 18, 2023 The richest households in Britain earn nearly four times as much as the poorest, although government tax and benefit spending has kept income inequality in check in the UK over the last year, according to official figures out today. Top earners made £83,700 last year, 3.8 times higher than the £22,300 average final income of [...]
FTSE 100 close: London index nips higher as Bank of England rate hike bets step up July 11, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 crept higher today as another set of hotter than feared wage numbers pushed pound sterling to its highest level in 15 months. The capital’s premier index nipped 0.12 per cent higher to 7,282.51 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, [...]
Why record wage growth could seal another jumbo interest rate rise from Bank of England July 11, 2023 It seems strange to cheer what economists call a “loosening in the labour market”. What that basically means is: employment growth is slowing, joblessness is on the up, vacancies falling and wage growth receding. Most of those requirements were met in today’s release from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In a shock to the [...]
Shock record wage growth amplifies risk of 14th straight Bank of England interest rate rise July 11, 2023 Workers’ pay is rising faster than expected and at among the quickest paces on record in a sign that the Bank of England will deliver a 14th straight interest rate rise next month, official figures out this morning reveal. Pay excluding bonuses rose 7.3 per cent over the three months to May on an annual [...]
Wage growth has ‘passed its peak’ as Andrew Bailey prepares to address City on interest rates July 10, 2023 Workers returning to the jobs markets and boosting the volume of candidates available to businesses are poised to put a lid on wage growth, analysts are predicting official numbers this week will show. Pay growth is said to have “passed its peak” after raging for more than a year, fuelled by staff demanding wage increases [...]
Accelerating redundancies ‘big concern’ for UK economy as firms sweat over recession July 10, 2023 Accelerating redundancies sparked by businesses sweating over whether the UK economy is on course for a recession are a “big concern” for the country, experts have warned today. Company layoffs have pushed the volume of unemployed workers available for jobs to its highest level since December 2020, when the UK was in the teeth of [...]
Factory worker shortages deal £6.5bn blow to UK economy July 3, 2023 A shortage of factory workers is dealing a £6.5bn blow to the UK economy, while London and the South East’s manufacturing economy is outpacing any other in the country, a new report out today has claimed. Factories are still to fill 74,000 empty roles, representing a big slice of lost output, according to industry body [...]