Flat labour market and anaemic pay growth show green shoots are yet to break through
Commenting on today’s labour market statistics, Charles Levy, senior economist at the Big Innovation Centre, said:
“Our labour market continues to mark time and created only 16,000 jobs in the three months to May. Total employment remains lower now than in the final three months of 2012. Unemployment is falling for both young and older workers. But this is being driven by individuals withdrawing from the labour market rather than entry into employment and long-term unemployment is still increasing.
“As wage growth falls further behind inflation our economy is still struggling to provide enough full-time work. The number of people working part-time because they can not find full-time work is at record levels. The effects of any recovery in output are not yet filtering through to the labour market.”
