Economic slowdown affecting employment

19 Dec 2024

Think tank the Resolution Foundation recently stated that whilst the UK's economic slowdown is affecting employment, it isn't yet affecting workers' pay packets.

The Foundation found that whilst the UK's jobs market continues to cool, pay growth remains resilient. Data from HMRC showed that private sector wages grew by 5.4% in cash terms in the three months to October, while public sector wages grew by 4.3%.

Firms are still hiring, according to the Resolution Foundation, at a rate of 600,000 jobs per month, which was slightly down on pre-pandemic levels of 650,000 jobs per month.

Hannah Slaughter, Senior Economist at the Resolution Foundation, commented: 'Britain's jobs market is continuing to cool amidst a wider economic slowdown. The number of people in work is starting to fall, and business confidence is weak.

'But there are also signs of resilience. Firms are still hiring at a respectable rate and pay packets are still growing. The big living standards question for 2025 will be whether hiring and wage growth can continue to boost household incomes, or if they'll tail off with the rest of the economy.'