UK Job Vacancies Hit Five Year Low as Private Sector Pay Growth Slows
4 sources · United Kingdom
Who reported this
- The Guardian
- The Independent
- Financial Times
- Sky News
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every source for this story reports from United Kingdom.
UK job vacancies have fallen to their lowest level in five years, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics. There were 707,000 vacancies between May and July, representing a decrease of 6,000 compared to the previous three months. The ONS stated that smaller businesses cited rising labour and operating costs as primary reasons for not hiring new staff or replacing employees who leave.
Data also shows a divergence in wage growth. Average growth in total earnings, including bonuses, fell to 4.1 percent in the three months to June from 4.4 percent in the previous period. Private sector pay growth slowed to 2.8 percent, the lowest rate since October 2020. Conversely, public sector pay growth rose to 6.1 percent, a figure the ONS attributed to the timing of NHS pay awards.
The headline unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.9 percent, though some reports noted this was slightly higher than forecasts. Company payrolls saw a decline of 13,000 workers in July. Economists suggest the cooling private sector wage growth may deter the Bank of England from raising interest rates this year, although money market pricing indicates some expectations for one increase to 4 percent.
Outlets with a center lean focused on the data as a red flag for the jobs market and a sign of weakening labour demand. Outlets with a center left lean framed the situation as a deepening cost of living squeeze for workers and a significant challenge for the government to address youth unemployment and business confidence.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- These outlets framed the news as a cost of living crisis for workers and a political challenge for the government.
- Centre
- These outlets focused on the data as a warning sign of a weakening labour market and shrinking demand.
Sources
- Centre Financial Times: UK employers shed jobs as labour market weakens further
- Centre Sky News: 'Red flag for jobs market' as vacancies hit lowest level in five years
- Centre-left The Guardian: UK pay growth slows as job vacancies hit five-year low
- Centre-left The Independent: UK job vacancies slip to five-year low in latest worrying sign for economy
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.