Latest news with #wagegrowth
Times
a day ago
- Business
- Times
Households less pessimistic about personal finances
Households were less pessimistic about their finances in the coming year despite an uptick in inflation and slower wage growth. An index of year-ahead household finance expectations published by S&P Global, a research firm, on Monday edged up to 43.6 in July from 43.5 the previous month. That was the highest level this year, although it was below the 50-point mark, which indicates consumers are pessimistic rather than optimistic. The improving confidence picture came despite consumers grappling with a renewed acceleration in prices. Inflation rose to 3.6 per cent in June, the steepest rate in 18 months, from 3.4 per cent in the previous month. Wage growth in the private sector also decreased to 4.9 per cent, the weakest level since 2022. • Food in the UK has long been seen as cheap. Is that still true? S&P Global's overall consumer confidence index inched up to 45.1 in July from 45 in the previous period, a two-month high. Maryam Baluch, an economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: 'July marked another month of pessimism among UK households, with the current financial situation deteriorating further. That said, there was an easing of concerns regarding the year ahead. 'The labour market also offered some reassurance, with job security returning and work activity increasing at a sharper pace. However, the growth rate of income from employment slowed to a four-month low.' Consumers are still grappling with higher prices at the shops GETTY IMAGES Although the UK economy has grown at an underwhelming pace for the past two years, the labour market has remained strong. Unemployment is up to 4.7 per cent but is low by recent historical standards. The S&P Global labour market sentiment index increased to 52.4 from 52, the only sub-index with a reading above the 50-point mark. The spending index remained well below that threshold in July at 37.7, reflecting official data from the Office for National Statistics that showed depressed retail sales in the first half of the year. Economists tend to focus more on the GfK consumer confidence index rather than surveys provided by other private sector firms as it has been running since the 1970s. The latest instalment of the GfK index rose to -18 in June, the highest level since December. • UK households face cost of living squeeze as disposable income falls Consumer confidence is monitored closely by experts as it provides an indication of whether households will raise or cut their future spending.
National Post
a day ago
- Business
- National Post
Geoff Russ: The data is in — fewer newcomers in Canada means lower rent
Article content The supposed negligible impact on affordability was one of many myths used by the Trudeau government and its supporters to justify its immigration policy. Another myth was that mass immigration would 'raise living standards for all Canadians,' as stated by Century Initiative co-founder Mark Wiseman in 2016. Article content On July 7, the Conference Board of Canada released a report that found the slowing rates of immigration could help accelerate wage growth across the country, as businesses are forced to compete for labour. It has been a long time since blue-collar Canadian workers were treated as valuable. Article content Simply put, many business owners hire newcomers for low-skilled, low-wage jobs. Michael Bonner, who worked as a policy advisor in the Harper government and later as Director of Policy for the Government of Ontario, has written that, 'wages and prices are kept artificially low, and Canadians — usually young people — are priced out.' Article content The market economy is the greatest engine for creating prosperity. However, business owners break the social contract when they deliberately exploit immigration to suppress wage growth. Article content Right now, young Canadians are feeling the worst effects of the government's policies. The rate of youth unemployment stood at 8.2 at per cent at the beginning of 2020, but now it has risen to an alarming 11.2 per cent nationwide for those aged 15 to 24. Article content University graduates, born and raised in Canada, are spending their dwindling summers desperately churning out resumes in the hopes they can secure any meaningful employment before returning to school. The fortunate among them receive a polite rejection, and many have been forced to compete with temporary workers (TFWs) for low-skilled, minimum-wage jobs. Needless to say, Canada's standard of living has not improved. In fact, it has steadily fallen since 2019. Article content Another myth of modern immigration policy is the canard that Canadians will not work the same jobs as foreign workers. This is true in some sectors, such as manual agricultural labour, but these are the exceptions. Article content Canada may have a low birth rate, but young people did not suddenly disappear between 2019 and today. When nobody else is available, native-born citizens are perfectly capable of taking these allegedly undesirable jobs. Article content Article content Last year in the Globe and Mail, Christopher Worswick, an economist at Carleton University, wrote that the TFW program should be abolished completely. He outlined how many companies deliberately keep wages low and avoid improving working conditions, adding that, as foreign workers often cannot legally switch employers. Article content This system of mass, low-skilled immigration is cruel and disillusioning for all. Under the Trudeau model, per-person GDP growth languished below half a per cent annually. It was hardly worth the cost. Article content
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Goldman Parses China Data, Finds Worst Wage Growth Outside Covid
China's wage growth is so anemic it's slowed to the weakest pace outside the pandemic, an alternative indicator compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. showed, revealing an obstacle to stronger consumption at home as risks abroad mount. Wages grew 3.9% from a year ago in the second quarter — the lowest reading on record, with the exception of the pandemic years, according to a tracker published Sunday by Goldman economists led by Andrew Tilton.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wage growth in Europe: Which jobs have seen the biggest increases?
Wages in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and France grew year-on-year by 5.5%, 5.3%, 3.8%, and 1.9%, respectively, in May 2025. That's based on salary data from global hiring platform Indeed. After adjusting for inflation — using CPI data from the ONS and Eurostat — real wage growth stood at 2.3% in the UK, 1.8% in the Netherlands, 1.6% in Germany, and 1.1% in France over the same period. Delving deeper than country-specific rates, wage growth nonetheless varies significantly across occupations and sectors. Based on data provided by Indeed to Euronews, we take a closer look at the jobs that experienced the largest annual increases and declines in wages, based on a three-month moving average as of May 2025. Our analysis focuses on the 25 largest occupational categories, calculated by their share of total job postings. Legal roles see the highest rise in the UK and Germany Among the four countries named above, legal roles saw the highest real wage growth in both Germany and the UK, with increases of 5.7% and 4.3%, respectively. This category includes several occupations, with lawyers being the leading role. According to Indeed, the average annual salary for a lawyer is £53,420 (€61,900) in the UK and €71,274 in Germany as of mid-2025. These figures reflect national averages, though salaries vary significantly by region. For example, lawyers in London earn an average of around £70,450 (€81,670) per year. In France, the management sector and the security & public safety industry both recorded the highest real wage growth, at around 2%. In the Netherlands, cleaning & sanitation roles saw the largest increase at 4%, followed closely by security & public safety at 3.9%. 'Postings are down year on year in almost every occupational category, so it's important to look at wage growth and job posting trends relative to the average to see which categories are over- and underperforming in the market for new hires,' Pawel Adrjan, Director of Economic Research at Indeed, told Euronews Business. Jobs and drivers of wage growth in the UK Among the four countries, the UK recorded the highest wage growth, both in nominal and real terms. 'The UK's high wage growth has been puzzling economists for a while. While down from its peak, wage growth remains fairly high in nominal terms, despite the fact that demand for new workers has fallen significantly,' Adrjan said. He noted that there are a number of likely reasons for this trend, and one is that the government has decided to increase the minimum wage. This is impacting salaries not just in the lowest-paid jobs, but it is also having ripple effects on wage distribution. Employers may feel the need to raise salaries across the board to maintain wage differences between roles and experience levels. Another factor driving wage growth is that labour supply is constricted by lower immigration rates and high economic inactivity. This means employers are more likely to raise wages to attract and retain workers. Looking at the 25 largest occupations, certain jobs saw more than a 3% jump in real wages in the UK. Top-ranking legal professions showed a 4.3% increase, while roles in retail (3.3%), production & manufacturing (3.2%), loading & stocking (3.1%), and customer service (3%) also saw significant rises. Growth showed a steady, gradual pattern, with no extreme outliers, aside from the top-performing legal sector and the lowest-ranking software development jobs (-2.2%). Health and care-related occupations in the UK, including nursing (1.7%), childcare (2.3%), and personal care and home health (2.1%), saw modest real wage growth. IT wages in decline in Germany In Germany, legal roles saw the strongest real wage growth at 5.7%, followed by production & manufacturing and medical technician jobs (both at 4.1%). Education, security, media, and human resources roles also recorded solid gains between 3.5% and 3.9%. In contrast, IT-related roles saw the biggest declines in real wages. For example, IT operations & helpdesk roles saw a 6.4% decline, and software development jobs registered a decrease of 4.2%. For these roles, this means that prices have gone up faster than wages, reducing workers' purchasing power. Indeed's Adrjan noted that wage growth has slowed but remains above the Eurozone average in Germany. 'Wage growth is driven to a large extent by a gradual and coordinated process of union negotiations, which have in many cases concluded with multi-year wage increases that are still affecting aggregate wage growth trends today,' he said. No outliers in France's wage growth In France, real wage growth was relatively flat across many sectors, with most occupations clustered between 0.5% and 1.5%. At the lower end, personal care & home health, banking & finance, and software development saw minimal increases of 0.2% or less. Leading the list, management and security & public safety roles (both at 2%) are followed closely by the information design & documentation sector (1.9%). Human resources comes in next, at 1.8%. 'In France, there is a high degree of indexation of the minimum wage to inflation, and wages negotiated between firms and unions tend to follow suit, meaning that wage growth responded swiftly to inflation increases in 2022 and 2023 as well as to the marked slowdown in inflation over the past two years,' Adrjan explained. Real wages fall in Dutch health and care roles Wage growth in the Netherlands was led by cleaning & sanitation (4.0%) and security & public safety (3.9%), with notable gains also seen in banking & finance (3.4%), management (3.1%), and construction (3.0%). In contrast, several care-related occupations experienced real wage declines, including nursing (-0.3%), childcare (-0.5%) and physicians & surgeons (-0.6%). Discover more: Salary trends in the UK, Germany, and France Since the sectors listed in the charts above cover a range of roles, salary details for specific positions can be found on Indeed's website. Euronews Business articles also offer detailed salary breakdowns for the UK, Germany, and France individually. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UK unemployment rises to highest in four years due to slowing wage growth
Britain's unemployment rate has reached its highest level since June 2021, while workers have also faced a significant slowdown in wage growth, official figures reveal. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported the UK jobless rate rose to 4.7% in the three months to May, an increase from 4.6% in the preceding three months to April. Concurrently, average earnings growth, excluding bonuses, decelerated to 5% in the period to May, marking its lowest level in almost three years. (PA) The figures point towards further pressure in the UK labour market, days after the governor of the Bank of England warned that the Bank is prepared to make larger interest rate cuts if it sees that the job market slowing. It also comes amid a backdrop of recent weakness in the economy, with UK GDP (gross domestic product) shrinking in both April and May. We've published the latest labour market on today's figures, ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: (quote 1 of 2)Read the Labour market overview ➡ — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) July 17, 2025 ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: 'The labour market continues to weaken, with the number of employees on payroll falling again, though revised tax data shows the decline in recent months is less pronounced than previously estimated. 'Pay growth fell again in both cash and real terms, but both measures remain relatively strong by historic standards. 'The number of job vacancies is still falling and has now been dropping continuously for three years.' The rise in unemployment is worse than economists had expected, having predicted that the jobless rate would remain at 4.6% for the month. Nevertheless, average wage growth was slightly higher than the 4.9% predicted by economists. In March to May 2025, average weekly earnings were up 5.0% on the year both excluding including bonuses. At 5.5%, public sector pay growth continues to outstrip the private sector, at 4.9%.Read the article ➡ — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) July 17, 2025 But the rate of wage growth was still the weakest figure since the three months to June 2022 and represents a drop from a revised level of 5.3% in the three months to April. Wage growth continues to outstrip inflation, reflecting a rise of 1.8% after taking Consumer Prices Index inflation into account. Pressure in the labour market for the three months to May comes as firms swallowed significant increases in national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage in April. Firms have also been impacted by intensifying economic uncertainty after US President Donald Trump launched a new tariff regime in April, leading to heightened global trade tensions. The figures also showed job vacancies in the UK fell by 56,000 to 727,000 in the three months to June, compared with the previous quarter.
