"Today’s figures are another good news story for the Government; the UK economy is continuing to generate jobs and help people into work. Although this jobs growth isn’t on the same scale as that seen in 2015, this probably reflects an easing off in economic growth prospects, rather than any more specific economic concerns arising from the EU Referendum next month.
“However, it’s a stern reminder that businesses can only hire in new talent for so long and employers need to be thinking about their long-term skill requirements and the tools needed to up-skill existing staff to prepare for this. The Government needs to be driving this focus on training and development to boost productivity more permanently, particularly among small businesses.
"Average earnings growth is set to be stable at around 2%, which is consistent with data from our Labour Market Outlook survey and from other sources tracking pay settlements. Again, it suggests that any labour shortages that do exist are not widespread enough to push up overall wage increases. Once the labour market begins to tighten, we would expect to see greater pressure on starting salaries which may act to push other wages in the workforce up. However, given the extra costs that employers are facing through the new National Living Wage and pension auto-enrolment, any increases are likely to be minimal.”
