Tag: UK

  • UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises

    UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises


    UK recruitment activity dropped a softer pace in May, while candidate supply grew at the sharpest pace in eight months, data published by S&P Global showed on Friday.

    Permanent job placements decreased at a slightly sharper pace in May, while temp billings declined at the slowest pace in six months, the KPMG/REC Report on Jobs revealed. Recruiters said weaker confidence around the outlook and concerns over costs dampened hiring.

    At the same time, candidate availability continued to increase and at the steepest rate since December 2020. There were quicker increases in the supply of both permanent and temporary staff.

    Meanwhile, total vacancies decreased at the weakest pace since last September. Softer reductions were signaled for both permanent and temporary vacancies.

    Regarding wages, the survey showed that salaries awarded to new permanent joiners grew further in May. The salary inflation was the fastest seen since last August. Temp wage growth hit a one-year high. Nonetheless, the rate of inflation remained below their respective long-term averages, the survey showed.

    “More encouraging signs in temp billings, vacancies, and stabilizing private sector demand offer a measure of optimism as we head into the second half of the year,” REC Chief Executive Neil Carberry said.

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  • UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises

    UK Nationwide House Prices Rebound In May


    UK house prices rebounded unexpectedly in May, data from Nationwide Building Society showed Monday.

    House prices grew 0.5 percent on a monthly basis, in contrast to the 0.6 percent fall in April. Prices were expected to remain flat.

    Year-on-year, house price growth edged up to 3.5 percent from 3.4 percent in April.

    Nationwide’s Chief Economist Robert Gardner said there was a notable increase in housing property transactions in March as buyers brought forward their purchases to avoid stamp duty costs.

    Nonetheless, mortgage approvals data suggests that market activity appeared to be holding up well following the end of the stamp duty holiday, the economist said.

    Despite wider economic uncertainties in the global economy, underlying conditions for potential home buyers in the UK remain supportive, Gardner said.

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  • UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises

    UK Public Sector Net Borrowing Highest Since 2021


    UK public sector net borrowing in April was the highest in any month since April 2021, the Office for National Statistics reported Thursday.

    Public sector net borrowing rose by GBP 1.0 billion to GBP 20.2 billion in April. This was the highest borrowing since April 2021 and was also above economists’ forecast of GBP 18.0 billion.

    It is also the fourth-highest April borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, behind April 2020 and 2021 borrowing, the ONS said.

    In the financial year ending March, PSNB totaled GBP 148.3 billion. While this was GBP 3.7 billion lower than the initial estimate published in April 2025, it was above the GBP 137.3 billion forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

    Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks was estimated at 95.5 percent of GDP at the end of April. This was 0.7 percentage points more than at the end of April 2024.

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  • UK Recruitment Activity Remains Weak In April

    UK Recruitment Activity Remains Weak In April


    UK recruitment activity remained weak at the start of the second quarter as demand for staff deteriorated amid the rise in the salary inflation due to the increases in the national minimum and living wage rates, a report compiled by S&P Global showed Monday.

    Permanent staff appointments declined further amid reports of weak employer confidence and tighter hiring budgets, the KPMG/REC Report on Jobs survey revealed. However, the pace of reduction was the softest since September. Likewise, temp billings decreased at the slowest pace in four months.

    Data showed another strong increase in the number of candidates seeking work in April. The pace of growth softened only slightly from March and marked the second-sharpest since December 2020. Permanent candidate availability grew at a rate sharper than that seen for temporary staff.

    Starting salary inflation was solid with the pay growth unchanged from March’s seven-month high. Temp wage growth increased the most in 11 months with respondents citing higher national minimum and living wage rates.

    Demand for staff weakened in April as seen in each of the last 18 months. The rate of contraction quickened slightly since March. There were sharp falls in both permanent and temporary vacancies.

    Recruitment continued to be muted and the number of people looking for jobs increased in April, Group Chief Executive and UK Senior Partner KPMG Jon Holt said.

    With businesses facing several pressures due to current global economic uncertainty and rising costs, it is unlikely to lead to a sudden turnaround in the market in the near term, Holt noted.

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  • UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises

    UK Retail Sales Increase On Improving Weather: BRC


    UK retail sales increased in March as improving weather boosted house and garden related purchases, the British Retail Consortium reported Tuesday.

    Retail sales grew 1.1 percent on a yearly basis in March. However, this was slower than the 3.5 percent growth in the same period last year.

    This year, Easter is in April, while it was in March last year. This has distorted the annual comparison and made March 2025 sales lower.

    Food sales grew 1.6 percent annually, following last year’s 8.3 percent surge. Meanwhile, non-food sales gained 0.6 percent, in contrast to the 0.4 percent fall last year.

    “Despite a challenging global geopolitical landscape, the small increase in both food and non-food sales masked signs of underlying strengthening of demand given March 2025’s comparison with last year’s early Easter,” BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said.

    With improving weather, gardening and DIY equipment sales increased sharply, Dickinson noted. “Retailers are making final preparations for Easter, with food expected to be the big winner next month,” she added.

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  • UK Housing Market Conditions Weaken On Challenging Macroeconomic Factors

    UK Housing Market Conditions Weaken On Challenging Macroeconomic Factors


    The UK housing market conditions weakened in March as demand faded following the end of stamp duty holiday amid rising concerns about economic outlook, survey data showed on Thursday.

    New buyer demand turned negative and hit the lowest since September 2023, the Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors showed on Thursday. The index slid sharply to -32 percent in March from -16 percent in February.

    For agreed sales, a net balance of -16 percent in March indicated a further deterioration from the February figure of -13 percent.

    Looking ahead, three-month sales expectations pointed to further dip in activity over the near term. The index hit -18 percent compared to -6 percent in February. However, a net balance of +11 percent of survey participants expect sales volumes to rise in twelve month horizon.

    Regarding supply, the survey revealed that a net balance of +6 percent of contributors noted a moderate pick-up in the flow of fresh listings coming onto the market.

    Focussing on house prices, the survey’s headline gauge declined to 2 percent in March, down sharply from readings of 20 percent in January and 11 percent in February.

    Going forward, the three-month house price expectations series logged a net balance of -26 percent compared to -16 percent in February.

    Respondents expect prices to come under some downward pressure in the short-term. However, further ahead, twelve-month price expectations remained in positive territory, at 39 percent.

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  • UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises

    UK Car Registrations Surge 12.4%: SMMT


    UK car sales grew sharply in March from a year ago, marking its first increase in six months, data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders, or SMMT, showed Friday.

    Car registrations grew by 12.4 percent to 357,103 units in March, up from 317,786 units in the corresponding month last year.

    “This growth, in the most important month of the year for the new car market, builds on the March 2024 performance, where uptake rose by 10.4 percent,” the SMMT said.

    Sales of battery electric cars rose to the highest ever volume of 69,313 units in March. Nonetheless, the current market share of 19.4 percent is still below the target set by the zero-emission vehicle mandate.

    All types of electrified vehicles recorded growth in the month, with hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and battery electric vehicles, which logged a massive growth of 43.2 percent. As a result, March became the largest month ever for registrations of electric cars.

    There was an 11.5 percent upturn in fleet registration, while business buyers were 0.3 percent lower compared to last year. Private buyer uptake surged 14.5 percent, recovering sharply from the previous year’s lackluster performance.

    “Manufacturers remain committed to the market decarbonization the country and the environment demand, but we need sustained growth, not a short-term bubble driven by unsustainable manufacturer discounting and drivers rushing to beat a tax hike,” Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said.

    The industry maintains a call for accelerated regulatory review and government incentives to raise demand to the required level.

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  • UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises

    UK Services Growth Strongest In 7 Months


    The UK service sector continued to expand at an accelerated pace in March, spurred by a renewed upturn in new orders, the S&P Global purchasing managers’ survey showed on Thursday.

    The final services Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed to 52.5 in March from 51.0 in February, below the flash reading of 53.2. A score above 50 indicates expansion, while any reading below suggests contraction in the sector.

    New business grew at the fastest pace in four months on the back of strong consumer spending despite challenging business conditions, linked to constrained household budgets, rising risk aversion among clients, and elevated geopolitical uncertainty.

    Export sales increased for the first time in four months and at the fastest pace since October last year, linked to a nascent rebound in European demand.

    Although new orders returned to growth territory in March, there was a modest reduction in backlogs of work across the service economy.

    Companies reduced workforce numbers in March, reflecting a combination of redundancies and the non-replacement of leavers. The overall rate of job shedding nonetheless eased considerably since February.

    Looking ahead, business activity expectations, meanwhile, improved slightly in March but remained subdued in comparison to historic survey trends.  The most prominent concerns reported by service providers in March were rising payroll costs, weak domestic economic conditions, and the impact of US tariffs on the global economic outlook.

    On the price front, input price inflation eased to a 3-month low amid lower transportation costs. This contributed to the slowest rise in prices charged by service providers since December 2024.

    The composite output index rose to 51.5 in March from 50.5 in February, indicating the fastest expansion in the British private sector in five months.

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  • UK Recruitment Activity Declines At Softer Pace; Candidate Availability Rises

    UK GDP Edges Up In November


    The UK economy expanded slightly in November after two consecutive contractions, the Office for National Statistics reported Thursday.

    Gross domestic product grew 0.1 percent on a monthly basis in November, following an unrevised fall of 0.1 percent in October. GDP was expected to grow 0.2 percent.

    Data showed that the services sector was the largest contributor to the growth with output rising 0.1 percent. This follows a 0.1 percent fall in October.

    The decline in industrial production softened to 0.4 percent from 0.6 percent. Within in this, manufacturing was down 0.3 percent on month compared to a 0.6 percent decline in October.

    At the same time, construction grew 0.4 percent, partially offsetting the 0.3 percent decrease in October.

    In November, GDP was estimated to be 1.0 percent higher than in November 2023. The actual growth was weaker than economists’ forecast of 1.3 percent.

    In three months to November, real GDP registered no growth in the three months to November from previous three months.

    Another report from the ONS showed that the visible trade gap was largely unchanged in November. The visible trade deficit totaled GBP 19.31 billion compared to a GBP 19.33 billion shortfall in October.

    The surplus on trade in services increased to GBP 14.55 billion from GBP 14.31 billion. As a result, the total trade gap declined to GBP 4.75 billion from GBP 5.01 billion in the previous month.

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