Britain\u2019s labour market may finally be\nrunning out of steam. With the jobs boom slipping into the rear view mirror,\nthe number of new jobs being created has slowed substantially: just 31,000 over\nthe past quarter, a number so small it is within the statistical margin of\nerror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this is not yet a decline \u2013 more a\npause for breath. Both the employment and unemployment rates held steady\ncompared to the previous quarter. That is a significant achievement against the\nbackdrop of a stagnant economy and risk-averse employers, who are growing\nincreasingly reluctant to hire. The total number of vacancies has been falling\nsteadily since January, as employers \u2013 particularly small businesses \u2013 fret\nabout the economic outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall demand from employers for staff\nremains fairly high relative to historical levels, however, with data through\nthe end of August showing an estimated 812,000 vacancies. The battle for talent\nis still raging on the recruitment front line. One standard metric of hiring\ndifficulties, the number of unemployed people per vacancy, remains very low at\n1.6, suggesting many open positions remain hard to fill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, it\u2019s \u2018steady as she goes\u2019 on\nthe jobs numbers and workers are reaping the dividends of this tight labour\nmarket in their paypackets. Average weekly earnings excluding bonuses rose by a\nrelatively brisk 3.8% over the past year, driving pay adjusted for CPIH\ninflation back up to within just \u00a33 of their pre-crisis peak of \u00a3473 per week,\nreached in 2008. With the economy clearly hovering at the full employment mark,\nwage inflation is likely to continue in the near future. But to see sustained\npay increases over the medium term we will need to see stronger productivity\ngrowth \u2013 and, of course, steer clear of a recession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The labour market continues to hold up surprisingly well but has employment reached its peak?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":11298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"recruiter-hub-blocks.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_mwm_category":[349],"post_topic":[],"post_content_type":[],"post_duration":[],"post_actions":[],"post_franchise":[],"post_mwm_author":[322],"class_list":["post-11296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_mwm_category-state-of-the-labour-market","post_mwm_author-padrjan"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n