Congrats on the pay rise, Britain

UK's latest labour market numbers were published by the Office for National Statistics this morning. What should we make of them? Some good news first: - Pay growth is back, stronger than expected, increasing by 3.6% in nominal terms. This is the fastest rate since the recession. - Employment is still increasing, even if at a slower pace, driven by a hefty jump in the level of self-employed workers in March-May 2019. At the same time, workers aged 50+ increased significantly over the last quarter. - The overall UK employment picture remains strong, with the employment rate staying very close to its record high and the unemployment rate remaining stable at 3.8% (the lowest level since 1974). And some warning signs: - Despite the recent welcome acceleration, we are not back to the 4% pay growth levels of the early 2000s yet. - Today, employees’ earnings levels (adjusted for inflation) are still lower than before the 2008–2009 recession. - While the overall UK labour market picture remains positive, job growth may be starting to lose momentum. #labourmarket #UK

This is good news for employees. It is not so good news for companies with large blue collar workforces. Unemployment is now under 4%. This and Brexit is creating labour shortages. It is almost impossible to pass on these cost increases onto the end customer. The solution? Companies need to invest in technology to improve labour productivity. https://lnkd.in/e8HbzET

Pay Hike - UK wage grow is now at the highest level since 2008 as the labour market continues to tighten. Wage growth of 3.6% now comfortably exceeds inflation at 2% #economics #markets #investing #economy

For March to May 2019, 76.0% of people aged 16 to 64 were in paid work. The unemployment rate was 3.8%; it has not been lower since October to December 1974. Employees’ earnings are still lower than before the 2008–2009 recession, after taking inflation into account https://ow.ly/Xhh150v1Cpj

The headlines from our latest UK Economic Outlook focus on the labour market, with slow wage growth meaning that key worker households under 30 in London spend 53% of their income on rent. With the rest of the south of England almost as bad, UK housing costs are surely unsustainable. https://lnkd.in/gb2JcYQ

UK wage growth faster than expected