“By tradition, Chancellors delivering a Budget speech are permitted to take a tipple to the Despatch Box with them.
“But George Osborne won’t be needing any Dutch Courage after these numbers.
“The headline figures are robust, with jobs still being being created at a steady rate and the number of unemployed Britons dipping to a new low.
“Look forward, however, and economic conditions are far less favourable.
“With wage growth still worryingly weak and rising commodity prices set to nudge up inflation, employees’ spending power could soon be squeezed.
“Any slowdown in consumer spending could stop Britain’s already flagging rate of economic growth in its tracks.
“Britain’s lowest earners will be the hardest hit by the toxic combination of rising prices and meagre wage growth, although the introduction next month of the National Living Wage could at least ease the pain.
“The darkening economic situation has yet to fully feed through to the labour market, and hiring sentiment among employers remains robust.
“Indeed’s FebruaryEmployment Trends index, based on a sample of hundreds of thousands of live UK job postings in 13 sectors, showed increased recruitment activity across all sectors last month, with construction alone seeing a 12% month-on-month increase in jobs available.
“But the small matter of a potential Brexit could see increased conservatism among employers in the months ahead.”
About Indeed
More people find jobs on Indeed than anywhere else. Indeed is the #1 job site in the world and allows job seekers to search millions of jobs on the web or mobile in over 60 countries and 28 languages. More than 180 million people each month search for jobs, post resumes, and research companies on Indeed. Indeed is also the #1 source of external hires for thousands of companies (sources: SilkRoad & iCIMS).
