“We’re now starting to see signs of a labour market losing its momentum with declines in employment and vacancies in the latest figures.
“At the same time, there remains extreme tightness with vacancies nonetheless remaining near record levels and economic inactivity reversing its recent falls to rise to its highest level since 2016. This was caused by people at opposite ends of the career ladder; largely driven by those aged 16 to 24 years and those aged 50 to 64 years. This participation gap in the labour market means hiring became even more challenging for employers.
“While many people’s thoughts may be elsewhere at the moment, the cost-of-living crisis continues to be reflected in a squeeze on real terms pay. Despite historically strong nominal regular pay growth, real wages were down -2.8% on the year - one of the largest falls on record.
“The squeeze on public sector workers is particularly acute as their regular wages increased by just 2% year-on-year in nominal terms compared with 6% for private sector workers, the largest gap on record outside of the pandemic period.”
