U.K. Wage Growth Hits a Record as Vacancies Pass 1 Million
- Companies are scrambling for staff after Covid rules loosened
- BOE is watching strain in labor market for signs of inflation
U.K. wage growth hit a record as companies posted more than 1 million new job vacancies for the first time in an unprecedented scramble for staff following the loosening of lockdown rules.
Average earnings in the three months through June surged a record 8.8% from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. While the figure partly reflects distortions created by the pandemic, underlying wage pressures are also gathering pace.
The pickup underscores the scale of the recovery from the deepest economic slump in 300 years. Although the Bank of England expects strains in the labor market to prove temporary, policy makers warned this month that meeting the 2% inflation target will require a modest withdrawal of monetary stimulus.