YARDSTICK INDICATOR

Inflation

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) increased to 3.3% in May, up from 3.0% in April, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. The is the fastest rate ever recorded since the CPI measure was introduced in 1997. The biggest contributing factor to the increase in consumer inflation was the rising price of food and non-alcoholic beverages. The Retail Prices Index, considered to be the more accurate measure of inflation, rose slightly
to 4.3%.

www.statistics.gov.uk

Employment

The number of people in employment for the three months to March 2008 was 29.5 million – the highest fi gure on record. The employment rate was 74.9%, up 0.1 percentage points on the quarter, and up 0.4 percentage points over the year. The number of unemployed people rose by 14,000 people over the quarter to 1.61 million people. On the downside, however, the number of benefi ts claimants increased to 806,300 in April – up 7,200 on the previous month.

www.statistics.gov.uk

Online recruitment

Online recruitment activity in the UK increased slightly in May following two months of decline, as the Monster Employment Index rose by two points to 181. However, annual growth is at its lowest level in more than a year. Online hiring in the healthcare and social work sector saw the highest demand, rising to 28 points and recovering from a significant drop in April. By contrast, the banking, finance and insurance sector fell by 23 points, following three consecutive months of growth.

http://monsterworldwide.com

Job creation

Almost 62,000 new jobs were created across the UK's 21 key industries in May 2008, an increase of 57% compared with May 2007. The retail and wholesale sector and building and construction were the best performers. Media, marketing and publishing, and vehicles and parts sectors performed well. The scores are calculated by comparing the number of jobs created within UK industrial sectors each month with the previous year.

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

Wages

The rate of average starting salaries awarded to successful candidates placed in permanent jobs rose from 51.0 in April to 53.2 in May, according to the latest Report on Jobs by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and professional services firm KPMG. The survey is based on a scale where 50 means no change. Hourly rates of pay for temporary/contract staff decreased from 52.3 in April, to 52.1 in May.

 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