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Gerwyn Davies, senior labour market analyst for the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, said:

“The jobs boom is finally showing signs of petering out, which should come as no surprise given the current constraints on the number of available and suitable candidates and the modest fall in labour demand. It is also clear that the number of redundancies is edging up, which will have been affected by the strong headwinds facing the retail and automotive sectors. It’s likely that the political uncertainty over the past six months has affected the confidence levels of recruiters given that the start of the year marked the turning point for the softening in employment growth.” 

Davies continues: “Despite this, pay growth has received a further modest boost.  Average weekly earnings for employees excluding bonuses in Great Britain were estimated to have increased by 3.6% over the past year, which will provide a further boost to the living standards of British workers. However, employers with low levels of productivity will face a hit to profits if they raise pay without seeking to improve productivity growth.   The solution to this problem partly lies in improving management practices."

Labour market statistics in the UK: July 2019