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Business Today
Business live
UK real wages keep rising thanks to falling inflation, but vacancies fall
Live  
UK real wages keep rising thanks to falling inflation, but vacancies fall
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Headlines
Cost of living crisis  
Ministers urged to expand support as MPs find Britons ‘slipping through net’
Ministers urged to expand support as MPs find Britons ‘slipping through net’
Labour  
Rachel Reeves plans pensions reform as part of growth plan
Greensill  
What is the scandal overshadowing David Cameron’s return to cabinet?
Royal Mail  
Company fined £5.6m by UK regulator for missing delivery targets
Wimbledon  
Expansion plan dealt blow as planners advise rejecting it
Environment  
UK to loosen post-Brexit chemical regulations further
Energy  
Ofgem plans to cut wind and solar delays by stripping out ‘zombie’ projects
Ding dong?  
Beauty company Avon to open first UK stores in its 137-year history
Politics  
UK plans U-turn on powers to halt takeovers on national security grounds
Real estate  
Rising interest rates wipe £200m off British Land’s property portfolio
Today's agenda
Vacancies at UK firms are continuing to fall as the economy struggles to grow, while real pay is rising at the fastest rate in two years.

That’s two key points from the latest survey of the UK labour market, just released by the Office for National Statistics, which shows little change in unemployment, employment, or economic activity in the last three months.

The ONS reports that vacancies fell for the 16th time in a row, dropping by 58,000 in August-October compared with May-July, as companies cut back on hiring.

Vacancy levels fell in 16 of the 18 industry sectors, led by professional, scientific, and technical activities.

But workers are continuing to see their wage packets rise faster than inflation, thanks to strong pay growth and the drop in inflationary pressures this summer.

The ONS reports that pay growth slowed a little, with regular pay (excluding bonuses) growing by 7.7% in July to September 2023 (down from 7.9% last month).

Total pay rose by 7.9% (down from 8.2%), bolstered by one-off bonus payments to civil service staff this summer.

Adjusted for CPI infation, that means that total pay rose by 1.1% on the year and regular pay rose by 1.0% on the year, the fastest since autumn 2021.

The ONS has been having problems producing its usual labour market report, due to low response rates. So instead it has produced an alternative set of estimates, which show:
• the UK employment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points on the quarter to 75.7%
• the UK unemployment rate was largely unchanged on the quarter at 4.2%
• the UK economic inactivity rate was largely unchanged on the quarter at 20.9%.

We also get the latest UK insolvency figures this morning, an update on eurozone growth, and then US inflation data this afternoon.

The agenda
• 9am GMT: IEA oil market report
• 9.30am GMT: US monthly insolvency statistics for October
• 10am GMT: Eurozone GDP report (second estimate)
• 10am GMT: ZEW index of eurozone economic sentiment
• 1.30pm GMT: US inflation report for October 

We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
Nils Pratley on finance
Ofcom hits Royal Mail with a regulatory twig
Ofcom hits Royal Mail with a regulatory twig
Media
BBC  
Licence fee is ‘regressive tax’, former chair Michael Grade says
Licence fee is ‘regressive tax’, former chair Michael Grade says
I'm a Celebrity ...  
Nigel Farage and Guardian critic Grace Dent to appear on show
Spotlight
The ghosts haunting China’s cities
The long read  
The ghosts haunting China’s cities
The long read: In the official telling, fears of malevolent spirits are a vestige of old, unenlightened village ways. But today urban China is rife with superstition about death. Why?
Popular on business
Millions of UK households forced to unplug fridge to cope with rising bills
Millions of UK households forced to unplug fridge to cope with rising bills
Ikea owner buys Brighton shopping mall, its second in the UK
Iron resolve: steel town unites to fight for its furnaces
Co-op boss says criminal gangs are operating ‘exempt from consequences’
UK house asking prices in largest November fall since 2018; Opec insists oil market still strong – as it happened
Get in touch
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