Staycations and Brits socialising propel consumer spending above pre-Covid levels September 7, 2021 Surging demand for staycation holidays amid ongoing travel restrictions, supported by strong appetite among Brits to socialise during the summer months, pushed consumer spending well-above pre-Covid levels last month. Data from Barclaycard shows card spending was 15.4 per cent above the same month in 2019, before the onset of the Covid crisis. The sharp rise [...]
From McDonalds to supermarkets: The slow-motion car crash of Britain’s labour shortages September 6, 2021 World trade in toys is a highly cyclical business. Every year, just as everyone is putting their Halloween masks away, Chinese exports of toys drop back, and by March the following year they will typically be nearly 60 per cent lower. For the last four years, October’s peak has been getting progressively lower. Since the [...]
Retail crisis: Every single day, nearly 50 stores in Britain close down September 6, 2021 Almost 50 chain stores per day closed down on British high streets, retail parks and shopping centres in the first half of the year, according to research. But the rate of closures slowed compared with the first six months of 2020, a survey conducted for accountancy firm PwC found. Figures collected by the Local Data [...]
How worker shortages are cleared will determine UK economy’s trajectory September 4, 2021 You would be forgiven for forgetting we are currently amid one of the best runs of economic growth in living memory with all the negative news about supply chain snarl ups, worker shortages and soaring inflation flying around. A slew of data published this week, alongside a raft of announcements from supermarket, retail and food [...]
Shortages and price hikes: Brexit bravado risks ripping up retailers’ Christmas stockings September 3, 2021 The festive season may be months away, but major retailers usually start stocking up for Christmas in September. This year, however, the government’s “Brexit hubris” means it is refusing to allow EU-based drivers to return and end Britain’s HGV driver shortage, according to David Jinks, head of consumer research at international delivery firm ParcelHero. He told [...]
Worker shortages intensify despite employers ramping up hiring September 3, 2021 UK firms’ struggle to find candidates to fill roles continues to intensify amid severe shortages of workers across the economy, according to new figures released today. Latest data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation shows nearly 200,000 new job ads were posted in the last week alone, highlighting how desperate employers are to hire new [...]
BRC: Food manufacturing may be offshored because of staff shortages September 2, 2021 Some food manufacturing may have to move out of the country due to staffing shortages, a retail boss has said. Businesses were just about keeping their head above water amid shortages of HGV drivers and other supply chain staff such as production workers, Andrew Opie, director of Food and Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium [...]
Bank holiday weekend busiest spending period since Christmas 2019 September 1, 2021 The recent August bank holiday weekend was the busiest spending period since Christmas 2019, data has revealed. Barclaycard Payments processed more transactions on both Saturday August 28 and Sunday August 29 than on any date since Christmas Eve 2019 as Brits spent the weekend shopping. Transaction volumes were up 14.4 per cent across all sectors [...]
Labour shortages make light work of fears of a post-Brexit unemployment surge – CityAM : CityAM September 1, 2021 In the two decades before the Brexit referendum, there was a large increase in the number of people moving from the EU to the UK. In the mid-1990s there were less than one million EU citizens living in the UK. By the mid-2010s, this had risen to 3.6 million. The bulk of the increase came [...]
Even entertaining a nappy tax exposes No10’s muddled plans for plastic waste and climate change September 1, 2021 When I saw the front page of the Daily Mail over breakfast this morning, I nearly choked on my Shreddies. It’s possible George Eustice did, too, given his department rapidly denied today’s headlines that government is contemplating a levy on disposable nappies. Perhaps someone in Whitehall got the wrong end of the stick. Considering Ministers’ contempt for [...]