| Employment figures encouraging |
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| Wednesday, 16 April 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 These point to weaker hiring intentions and the prospect of substantial job losses – and are somewhat more in keeping with news emerging daily from the City and those parts of retail sector hardest hit when increasingly cash strapped households cut back on non-essential spending.Pay inflation in public sector Dr Philpott said that it was also surprising that the ONS found continuing big falls in the number of temporary employees when independent surveys suggest that employers cautious about the business outlook are turning to temps rather than hiring staff on permanent contracts. He warned that one thing likely to concern the Government from the latest labour market statistics was that pay inflation had in recent months picked up in the public sector. "Although ministers may have been somewhat misleading in claiming that tighter control of public sector pay was needed to curb price inflation in the economy – rather than to contain public spending and borrowing – the Government will be somewhat embarrassed to find that public sector employers are doing less well than their private sector counterparts at keeping pay rises in check,” he concluded. Mark Priest, a senior trader at TradIndex, the spread betting company, said that the credit crunch was having an impact on the wider economy, although the slowdown will take time to filter through into job losses although it is not yet obvious from the unemployment figures. "As companies trim staff to take account of tougher trading conditions, and with rumours of massive job cuts in the City, I fear unemployment could rise sharply in the months ahead," he added. Related articles
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