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'Red flag for jobs market' as vacancies hit lowest level in five years
Small firms cited higher labour and operating costs as vacancies fell to 707,000, while private-sector pay growth slowed to 2.8%, ONS said.
- The Office for National Statistics reported 707,000 job vacancies on Tuesday, the lowest level in more than five years, with ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown noting a small fall in the latest period.
- Smaller businesses, facing costs that have increased by more than 70 per cent over the last decade, cite labour and operating expenses as reasons for scaling back recruitment, the British Chambers of Commerce found.
- Private sector pay growth fell to 2.8 per cent in the three months to June, a six-year low, while public sector wages rose 6.1 per cent driven by NHS pay awards; overall regular wage growth reached 3.5 per cent.
- Ben Harrison, director at the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said figures indicate the market is trapped in a 'deepening jobs drought,' while Kevin Fitzgerald of Employment Hero warned small businesses have 'very little room to manoeuvre.'
- While unemployment remains steady at 4.9 per cent, Suren Thiru, chief economist at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales , warns the market is in a 'low-churn limbo' amid rising costs and policy uncertainty.
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Total News Sources26
Leaning Left1Leaning Right6Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Center
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources are Center
50% Center
C 50%
R 43%
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