KPMG/REC Survey: Momentum in UK labor market fades further in May – Reuters
As per the latest survey from the UK’s Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), funded by the global quant giant KPMG, published early Thursday, “Britain’s labour market cooled further in May as starting salaries for permanent staff rose at the weakest pace in over two years.”
It should be noted that the recruiters included in the survey are the ones being closely watched by the Bank of England (BoE) and hence the results appear more important for the GBP/USD pair traders.
Also read: GBP/USD Price Analysis: Bulls are in the market but 1.2450s resistance could be tough
Key findings
REC said the number of permanent staff placements dropped last month at the sharpest rate since January 2021, as its gauge of demand for staff fell to a five-month low.
The survey chimed with other gauges of the labour market that show it is now clearly loosening.
REC’s gauge of growth in starting salaries for permanent staff fell to its lowest level since April 2021, although it said this still represented ‘a historically sharp pace overall’.
Elsewhere, another poll of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) hints that measure of new buyer enquiries rose to a net balance of -18, the least negative figure since -14 in May 2022, and up from -34 in April, per Reuters.