Hopeful signs in the labour market, but things remain a long way from normal
Today’s labour market statistics were broadly positive but there are causes for concern beneath the headlines.
Today’s labour market statistics were broadly positive but there are causes for concern beneath the headlines.
Unless we see a pick-up in productivity growth soon then the UK risks much slower growth, and lower living standards, in the future.
Today’s labour market statistics show that for most people this doesn’t feel like a recovery.
The latest labour market statistics show some encouraging signs, but the headline figures disguise serious weakness.
The ‘recovery’ in the wider economy is not being matched by rising real wages or rising living standards, instead the demand-constrained UK economy might be stumbling into a lower wage, lower productivity growth model with serious implications for living standards in the future.
Whilst important not to read too much into one set of figures, it may now be the case that the weakness of the wider economy is catching up with the labour market.
Today’s figures from the ONS confirm that GDP fell by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Whilst the upward revision is obviously good news, there is no disguising the fact that these are disastrous figures.
While the latest drop in the unemployment figures should be welcomed, real wages have now been falling in every month for the past three years.
The Bank of England appears to have thrown in the towel on growth with the publication of the latest Inflation Report, but where does this leave the chancellor?
Today’s labour market stats are no cause for celebration – things could be, and should be, an awful lot better.