Recession sees vacancies slump

Falling average earnings, employment and vacancies said more about the COVID-19 recession this month than the unemployment figures.

Official unemployment (February to April) was almost unmoved at 1.314 million with the rate still stuck at 4.0%. All the statistical signs of trouble lay elsewhere. Employment fell by over 100,000 to 31.62 million while vacancies (March to May) fell by 165,000 to 476,000.

The “experimental” claimant count increased to 2.8 million, but that can’t be seen as wholly due to changes in unemployment, the Office for National Statistics warned.

Over the 12 months to April, Average Weekly Earnings including bonus fell by -0.9% across the whole economy, -1.7% in the private sector and -3.1% in manufacturing. Only public sector earnings (excluding financial services) provided some support for household demand, with a rise of 2.9%. These are one-month figures (generally more volatile) and will have been affected in April by millions dropping to 80% of pay (or £2,500 monthly) on furlough.

Evened out over three months, the respective headline figures were 1.0%, 0.5%, 0.3% and 3.3%. Excluding bonuses, the April whole-economy change (regular earnings) was zero, -0.8% in the private sector and -2.5% in manufacturing.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours