Employment is up, but pay and productivity are stalling

Reacting to today’s ONS regional labour market stats Izzy Hatfield, IPPR Research Fellow said:

“While today’s record headline employment rate is very much welcomed, it is concerning that the continuing recovery in the labour market is not reflected in pay and productivity.

"There are worrying signs that near zero inflation is reflected in near zero growth in people’s pay packets. We’ve now had virtually no earnings growth since April 2015, although this isn’t immediately obvious from looking at the headline (annual) growth rate.

“There are also signs that the brief recovery in productivity seen last year may have evaporated: we are working more hours, but this hasn’t led to higher GDP growth yet. This could be a reflection of the type and quality of jobs the economy has added since the financial crisis, with services accounting for an ever-larger share of employment.”

Contact:

Sofie Jenkinson – s.jenkinson@ippr.org 07981 023 031

Lester Holloway – l.holloway@ippr.org 07585 772 633