Labour market indicators

The upward trend in earnings growth continues, with pay startingto make up some ground relative to inflation.

Across the economy as a whole, regular pay went up by 7.5% in the year to April, up from 7.1% in March.

Total pay including bonuses rose by 7.4%, up from 5.6% (the timing of bonus payments can impact those figures).

There was another fall in numbers “economically inactive”, driven partly by people looking after family or home (although inactivity due to long-term sickness hit a new record high).

That coincided with increases in both the employment rate and unemployment rate.

The number of payrolled employees increased (now 30 million) while the Office for National Statistics also flagged up an increase in the self-employed, to 4.443 million. That is the highest level for over two years, but still well below its pre-pandemic peak of over five million at the beginning 2020.

Vacancies fell slightly to 1.051 million, with some employers holding back on recruitment, while 257,000 working days were lost because of labour disputes.

But as job-finder companies Indeed and Glassdoor warn (see page 25), without significant labour market changes, employers will be competing for labour for years to come.