YARDSTICK INDICATOR

Inflation

UK consumer inflation remained unchanged at 2.5% in March, according to the Office for National Statistics. The data showed inflation remained steady after a fall in bedroom and kitchen furniture prices offset an increase in air fares and transport costs. UK producer inflation reached 6.2% in March – its highest rate in nearly 17 years. Retail Prices Index inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, fell to 3.8% in March from 4.1% in February.

www.statistics.gov.uk

Employment

The number of people in employment for the three months to January 2008 was 29.46 million - the highest figure on record. The employment rate was 74.8% - up 0.3% percentage points from the previous quarter, and up 0.4 percentage points over the year. The number of unemployed people fell by 32,000 over the quarter to reach 1.61 million people. Meanwhile, the number of benefit claimants was down by 2,800 on the previous month, reaching 793,500. It has now fallen for 17 consecutive months.

www.statistics.gov.uk

Online recruitment

Online recruitment activity in the UK rose significantly in February as the Monster Employment Index grew by 32 points to 192, making a strong recovery from a seasonal dip in January. The increase was partly due to strong growth in online job availability in the healthcare/ social work and management and consulting sectors. The index is a monthly analysis of millions of online job opportunities culled from corporate career sites and job boards.

http://monsterworldwide.com

Job creation

Almost 70,000 jobs were created across the UK’s 21 key industries in March 2008, an increase of 114% compared with March 2007. The building and construction sector was the best performer in absolute terms, creating 18,700 jobs. This is an increase of 429% compared with March 2007. The support services sector and media, marketing and publishing also performed well last month. Other sectors are shown in the chart (right).

www.mandis.co.uk
www.adecco.co.uk

Wages

The rate of average starting salaries awarded to successful candidates placed in permanent jobs fell from 55.5 in March to 51.0 in April (on a scale where 50 means no change), according to the latest Report on Jobs by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and professional services firm KPMG. Hourly rates of pay for temporary/contract staff increased, although this latest rise was the slowest since July 2003. 
www.statistics.gov.uk

Confidence

Manufacturers have become more pessimistic about the business environment in the wake of the summer's credit crunch, according to the CBI's latest quarterly industrial trends survey. Levels of optimism fell to -13% in the three months to October, the sharpest decline in sentiment since January 2006 (-14%). Export order volumes have held up well, with a balance of 6% of firms reporting growth, although export demand is expected to stabilise over the next quarter.

www.cbi.org.uk