Job openings rose in lead-up to the budget

Job openings in the UK economy rose in the run-up to the budget, bucking the trend of slower hiring and suggesting that businesses were not spooked by Labour’s maiden tax and spending plans.
The latest figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation reported a 4.8 per cent jump in new job postings between September and October to 706,480.The figures suggest businesses’ demand for workers remained robust even as broader indicators have shown a slowdown in hiring this year. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a decline of 9,000 payrolled employees in September and a provisional estimate of 5,000 losses in October.
REC’s survey pointed to rising postings in Christmas-related sectors. There was a 79 per cent increase in demand for delivery drivers and couriers, with postal workers, mail sorters and messengers recording a 53 per cent jump. Job postings for authors, writers and translators rose by 32 per cent. The overall number of active job postings, which includes new and existing vacancies, fell by 0.6 per cent between September and October.
Neil Carberry, the chief executive of the REC, said the rising jobs figures pointed to “signs of life” in the labour market. “They do highlight the level of underlying resilience in our jobs market. If firms become more confident about the path of the economy they will invest in new products and jobs.”
The government and the Bank of England are closely watching developments in the jobs market to assess the impact of recent policy changes. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, announced a £16 billion increase in national insurance contributions paid by employers in her first budget last month, a measure that has been called a “tax on jobs” by Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UK Hospitality, the body that represents the hotel, restaurant and leisure sectors.
Research from Deutsche Bank said the higher taxes could reduce future jobs growth by 100,000, raise consumer price inflation by 0.4 percentage points next year and lower the level of business investment by about 0.3 per cent.
The Bank of England, which lowered interest rates this month, said it needed wage growth to continue falling to weaken inflationary pressures in the economy and pave the way for more cuts in borrowing costs.
Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank, said last week that the economy was suffering from a reduced supply of labour in the form of high levels of economic inactivity and uncertainty over migration policy.
October’s REC survey said the sectors most in need of workers were software engineers and programmers, solicitors and lawyers, and chartered accountants.