

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A restaurant advertises for workers in Brighton, Britain, Aug. 15, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
By David Milliken
Starting wages in the UK rise at the slowest pace in nearly 3 years
The recent industry data has indicated a cooling in the UK’s hiring market, offering some relief to the Bank of England in its battle against inflationary pressures.
The Bank of England is closely monitoring labor market trends, fearing that worker shortages and skills mismatches will make it challenging to bring inflation back to its 2% target.
While average pay excluding bonuses grew at a rapid rate in the third quarter of 2023, the latest survey shows a slowdown in the growth of starting salaries and pay rates for temporary staff.
“Businesses want to plan for the year ahead, but the prospect of faltering UK economic growth means the certainty they need isn’t there. This is now impacting starting salaries,” said Claire Warnes, a partner at KPMG which sponsors the survey.
REC said job vacancies fell last month for only the second time since February 2021 while the number of job seekers rose by the most since December 2020. This could be linked to redundancies and workers concerned about their current job security, according to Recruiters.

