Food inflation: First signs of energy cost surge feed through to supermarket shelves as discounts fail to stem price growth
Jobs slump as economy ‘held up by uncertainty’ Economics The UK jobs market has been handed another blow as businesses ditch permanent hires as the economy battles against domestic and international uncertainty. The latest jobs report from KPMG and REC, the professional body for recruiters, showed hiring for permanent places dropped to a reading of 44.1 in May, which sits below the neutral 50 [...]
‘Centre of gravity is shifting’: UK fintech hiring to switch focus from neobanks Fintech UK fintech is forecast for another hiring surge as the sector matures past the high-growth era of neobanks and focus turns to the rise of software and payments focused firms. Figures from City recruiter Morgan McKinley forecast fintech hiring to rise 14 per cent in 2026, which follows on from a whopping 28 per cent [...]
Private sector axes more jobs amid Reeves’ tax and wage pressures Economics The UK’s private sectors culled jobs for the seventeenth consecutive month in February led by a significant drop in the services sector as businesses were still digesting the impact of Labour’s 2024 Autumn Budget. The latest flash Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) from S&P Global described the rate of job shedding in February as at a [...]
Unemployment hits post-pandemic high as wage growth slips February 17, 2026 The labour market continued to loosen in the final quarter of last year, official figures show, with wage growth easing and unemployment climbing steadily higher. The rate of joblessness crept up to 5.2 per cent between October and December, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the highest level since early 2021 and slightly [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Unemployment rises; Debenhams’ £35m raise February 17, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The UK unemployment rate has risen again this morning, with fresh data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing the rate had surged to 5.2 per cent in the three months to December 2025. This was up from 5.1 per cent in the latest [...]
UK firms eye AI spending in 2026, but skills gap threatens rollout December 30, 2025 A third of British businesses plan to invest in AI in 2026, yet new data suggests the bigger challenge may be readying staff for the technology, rather than rolling it out at speed. Research from Lloyds Bank’s recent business barometer revealed that 33 per cent of firms intend to invest in AI tools next year, [...]
Private sector slump to drag on to Spring 2026, businesses say December 22, 2025 UK business leaders have warned that the sharp downturn in the private sector is likely to continue until Spring 2026, after firms put plans for future investment on ice in the run-up to the Labour government’s Autumn Budget. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) anticipates private sector output to fall in the fourth quarter after [...]
Hays slashes dividend as profit plummets August 21, 2025 Hays reported drops across most of its financial lines as the group battles a challenging hiring market, forcing it to reduce its final dividend for shareholders.
PageGroup profits slide as UK recruitment slowdown bites August 12, 2025 Recruiter PageGroup has posted a sharp drop in first half profits as subdued hiring across the UK and Europe weighed on performance, but the group stuck to its full year targets and pledged to press ahead with cost cuts. The Surrey-headquartered FTSE 250 firm saw operating profit tumble to £2.1m in the six months to [...]
Robert Walters plunges into loss amid challenging hiring market July 31, 2025 Robert Walters generated nearly £8m in losses over H1 of 2015 as the firm grapples with a 'challenging' hiring market that resulted in rounds of redundancies.