Latest news with #wagegrowth
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Eurozone unemployment ticks up modestly as tariff uncertainty lingers
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the eurozone was 6.3% in May 2025, up from 6.2% in April 2025 and down from 6.4% the prior year. Eurostat also confirmed on Wednesday that the EU unemployment rate was 5.9% in May 2025. That's a flat reading compared to April 2025 and down from 6.0% in May 2024. To look at the underlying figures, 13.052 million people in the EU were unemployed in May 2025, of whom 10.830 million were in the eurozone. Unemployment rates remained relatively stable in major eurozone economies aside from Italy, which saw a jump from 6.1% to 6.5% in May. Historically few people are without work in the eurozone as companies struggle to plug job shortages. This is putting some upward pressure on wage growth, although salaries are still coming down from post-inflation shock highs. 'For the end of the year, we expect wage growth to drop to around 3% or slightly below. With productivity growth picking up, this means that inflationary pressures from the labour market are actually fading and should align with the ECB's 2% inflation target,' said Bert Colijn, ING's chief economist for the Netherlands. 'So, despite a continued heated labour market, wage pressures are likely to pose a lesser immediate risk to the ECB's inflation outlook,' he added. Although interest rates and price pressures have declined over the past year in the eurozone, businesses are also facing added uncertainty from US tariffs and geopolitical tensions. US President Donald Trump has set a deadline of 9 July to secure agreements with trading partners before his so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs come back into effect after a 90-day pause.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
FTSE 100 Live: Pound Extends Rally, Bond Yields Drop Ahead of Welfare Vote
The upside of house prices dipping, however, is that it does help to a degree with affordability for buyers. That's been stretched significantly in recent years as tepid wage growth combined with a higher cost of living and rising house prices. Now, wage growth is stronger and rising in real terms, house prices are stagnating and interest rates are slowly moving lower. That's meant mortgages are settling at a lower rate than the last couple of years too. The result: some improvement in affordability. The fly in the ointment, however, is that cost of living worries are back on the agenda. Rents are still rising, even if the pace has softened, and food prices are increasing again too, all as households contend with a series of hefty bill rises. Which points to what most economists have been predicting for the rest of the year -- house prices moving very slowly higher, with few fireworks to speak of and probably more volatile monthly moves.
Zawya
3 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
UK business confidence levels hit highest since 2015, Lloyds says
LONDON: Confidence levels among British employers hit a fresh nine-year high this month as companies became more optimistic about the outlook for the economy, according to a survey published on Monday. The Lloyds Bank Business Barometer rose by one point to 51%, the highest since November 2015, adding to an 11-point jump in May following a tumble in April when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a big jump in import tariffs, many of which have since been suspended. The survey's measure of economic optimism touched a 10-month high, rising by a point after a 16-point increase in May. Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said a rise in hiring intentions - with 60% of firms expecting higher staffing levels in the coming year - suggested employers were starting to prepare for future growth. The Bank of England is watching Britain's jobs market closely as it tries to gauge how much inflation pressure remains in the economy. Governor Andrew Bailey said last week that he saw signs of a slowdown in the labour market, due in part to the government's tax increase for employers, which began in April. But the Lloyds survey showed wage growth expectations rose for a second month in a row, with 36% of respondents forecasting average pay increases of 3% or more. Separate figures published by jobs website Adzuna showed UK staff vacancies edged down in May from April but rose by 0.5% compared with May last year, the third such increase in a row after more than a year of falls. "May reinforced the sense that the job market in the UK is gradually regaining its footing," said Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said its gauge of expectations among businesses about the economy over the next three months were less negative than in May but remained weak after the tax increase on employers and geopolitical upheaval. "Companies are still grappling with higher employment costs, cautious spending behaviour on the part of households and increasing global uncertainty," said Alpesh Paleja, the CBI's deputy chief economist. (Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Helen Popper )
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UK business confidence levels hit highest since 2015, Lloyds says
LONDON (Reuters) -Confidence levels among British employers hit a fresh nine-year high this month as companies became more optimistic about the outlook for the economy, according to a survey published on Monday. The Lloyds Bank Business Barometer rose by one point to 51%, the highest since November 2015, adding to an 11-point jump in May following a tumble in April when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a big jump in import tariffs, many of which have since been suspended. The survey's measure of economic optimism touched a 10-month high, rising by a point after a 16-point increase in May. Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said a rise in hiring intentions - with 60% of firms expecting higher staffing levels in the coming year - suggested employers were starting to prepare for future growth. The Bank of England is watching Britain's jobs market closely as it tries to gauge how much inflation pressure remains in the economy. Governor Andrew Bailey said last week that he saw signs of a slowdown in the labour market, due in part to the government's tax increase for employers, which began in April. But the Lloyds survey showed wage growth expectations rose for a second month in a row, with 36% of respondents forecasting average pay increases of 3% or more. Separate figures published by jobs website Adzuna showed UK staff vacancies edged down in May from April but rose by 0.5% compared with May last year, the third such increase in a row after more than a year of falls. "May reinforced the sense that the job market in the UK is gradually regaining its footing," said Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said its gauge of expectations among businesses about the economy over the next three months were less negative than in May but remained weak after the tax increase on employers and geopolitical upheaval. "Companies are still grappling with higher employment costs, cautious spending behaviour on the part of households and increasing global uncertainty," said Alpesh Paleja, the CBI's deputy chief economist. (Writing by William Schomberg;Editing by Helen Popper) Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UK business confidence levels hit highest since 2015, Lloyds says
LONDON (Reuters) -Confidence levels among British employers hit a fresh nine-year high this month as companies became more optimistic about the outlook for the economy, according to a survey published on Monday. The Lloyds Bank Business Barometer rose by one point to 51%, the highest since November 2015, adding to an 11-point jump in May following a tumble in April when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a big jump in import tariffs, many of which have since been suspended. The survey's measure of economic optimism touched a 10-month high, rising by a point after a 16-point increase in May. Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said a rise in hiring intentions - with 60% of firms expecting higher staffing levels in the coming year - suggested employers were starting to prepare for future growth. The Bank of England is watching Britain's jobs market closely as it tries to gauge how much inflation pressure remains in the economy. Governor Andrew Bailey said last week that he saw signs of a slowdown in the labour market, due in part to the government's tax increase for employers, which began in April. But the Lloyds survey showed wage growth expectations rose for a second month in a row, with 36% of respondents forecasting average pay increases of 3% or more. Separate figures published by jobs website Adzuna showed UK staff vacancies edged down in May from April but rose by 0.5% compared with May last year, the third such increase in a row after more than a year of falls. "May reinforced the sense that the job market in the UK is gradually regaining its footing," said Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said its gauge of expectations among businesses about the economy over the next three months were less negative than in May but remained weak after the tax increase on employers and geopolitical upheaval. "Companies are still grappling with higher employment costs, cautious spending behaviour on the part of households and increasing global uncertainty," said Alpesh Paleja, the CBI's deputy chief economist. (Writing by William Schomberg;Editing by Helen Popper) Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
