The number of job vacancies in the UK hit a record high of 1.2 million in September as Britain grapples with a chronic labour shortage.
British companies pushed the number of workers on payrolls above pre-pandemic levels last month, with a rise of 207,000 taking the total to a record 29.2 million in September, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Meanwhile, unemployment fell to 4.5 per cent in the three months to August, down from its pandemic peak of 5.2 per cent at the end of last year, however this is still above the 4 per cent recorded at the start of 2020.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak described the employment landscape as “encouraging” as the government moved into the next stage of its Job Support Programme.
“The number of expected redundancies remained very low in September, there are more employees on payrolls than ever before and the unemployment rate has fallen for 8 months in a row," Mr Sunak said.
Earlier this month, the Treasury committed an extra £500 million in fresh job support funding, with a focus on getting people into new or better jobs.
Britain’s labour market has been plunged into the spotlight in recent weeks, as a number of high-profile shortages in key areas led to supply chain chaos and concerns of a spiral in wages and prices.
Looking at the quarterly figures, vacancies hit 1.1 million between July and September, with the retail sector and motor vehicle repair reporting the largest increases.
Other sectors facing a shortage of workers include accommodation, food services, professional activities and manufacturing.
The employment figures suggest the robust recovery will absorb many of the 1 million workers who remained on furlough until the government ended the programme last month.
Meanwhile, underlying wage growth rose to between 4.1 per cent and 5.6 per cent in the three months through August, well above the 3 per cent seen before the pandemic.
That indicates price pressures in the economy that have started to concern the Bank of England, with policymakers saying inflation will top 4 per cent later this year, double central bank's target, and will probably prompt a tightening in monetary policy with an interest rate rise.
“The further strengthening of the labour market in August may prompt some members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to put more weight on the upside risks to inflation rather than the downside risks to economic growth,” said Paul Dales, senior UK economist at Capital Economics.
“As such, these data increase the chances of a rate hike in the coming months.”
Hussain Mehdi, macro and investment strategist at HSBC Asset Management, said inflation concerns and a decent October jobs report "could open the door to a hike as soon as the December meeting".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the other hand paints the jump in vacancies as a positive story for Britain, casting it as part of the economy’s transition away from the European Union.
However, Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said labour market shortages could “stunt” the UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
“The recovery is testing the capacity of the economy to adjust to a new post-pandemic environment, a task made more difficult by the reduced availability of overseas workers,” said Mr Selfin.
Separately, British shoppers increased their spending in September at the slowest pace since January amid fears over a shortage of fuel, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Retail spending lost more momentum last month, rising by just 0.6 per cent compared with September 2020, much weaker than August's 3 per cent increase.
"There are signs that consumer confidence is being hit as the fuel shortages, combined with wetter weather, had an impact in the second half of the month," BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said. "This had a bigger effect on large purchases such as furniture and homeware."
It Was Just an Accident
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- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
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The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
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Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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7.
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Singapore
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8.
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Australia
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9.
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
