‘Phantom roles’ may mask the true state of the UK job market January 14, 2021 Last month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) painted a bleak picture of the UK job market with the hospitality and retail sectors being in a particularly bad shape. ONS data showed the biggest-ever year-on-year decline in job vacancies in those sectors as the number of open positions fell by 49 percent and 52 per [...]
Britishvolt: The batterymaker leading the charge towards the 2030 diesel car ban January 14, 2021 2020 was a dire year for the UK car industry, but buried amid the reports of tumbling vehicle sales was one piece of promising news. For the first time ever, sales of electric vehicles comprised 10 per cent of all new car sales, figures from auto body the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) [...]
UK high streets to ‘lose up to 40 per cent of stores’ due to pandemic January 14, 2021 Up to 40 per cent of high street shops could be forced to close due to the impact of the shift to remote-working and online shopping, the latest analysis showed, in the latest blow to the struggling UK retail sector. A report published this morning by professional services giant KPMG said UK high streets could [...]
City Moves: Who is switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? January 13, 2021 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. After a rocky year for business, City firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges of three national lockdowns and post-Brexit bureaucracy to keep things moving across the Square Mile. This week, Lloyd’s [...]
Morrisons to be first UK supermarket to pay staff at least £10 an hour January 13, 2021 Morrisons will pay its supermarket staff at least £10 an hour, becoming the first major UK supermarket to reach that milestone. The new deal will start in April and represents a significant pay increase for nearly 96,000 colleagues, the majority of which will see a nine per cent rise. Staff had pushed for an increase [...]
Staff returning to offices three days a week would be ‘royal result’ post-pandemic January 13, 2021 If staff who have been working from home during the pandemic return to the office for three days a week post-Covid, it will be a “right royal result”, David Buik has said. Buik, who has worked for more than 50 years in the City of London and contributes to the Great Wave of Change podcast, [...]
London’s fintech scene could be a winner from the Covid crisis January 13, 2021 We all know the Covid-19 pandemic has been, and for too many remains, a devastating time. It’s easy to be pessimistic, too, even as vaccine rollout speeds up. Life will not go back to ‘normal’ quickly – the events of the last ten months will have profound repercussions for health services, businesses, debt and fiscal [...]
Robert Walters: We stand to benefit from any Brexit repercussions January 12, 2021 Leading recruitment boss Robert Walters has said that despite a challenging year the firm stands to benefit from any Brexit repercussions because of its wide geographic reach. The FTSE 250 firm has offices across the world with a strong presence in Asia, where performance has improved in recent months. Its trading update published today showed [...]
Smart politicians will be looking to cities as a springboard for greatness January 12, 2021 For much of the second half of the 20th century, powerful city politics was dying. As the great industrial centres went into decline, so too did their once-proud corporations and mayors. County boroughs like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds were gathered together in 1972 and melded into metropolitan counties like “Merseyside” or “West Midlands”, and [...]
Before the Bell: Tech firms under pressure as Europe poised for modest rebound January 12, 2021 Equities sold off yesterday as last week’s bullish mood was swapped for a more cautious attitude. There was an absence of positive news yesterday so the stories about the health crisis were at the centre of attention, David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, tells City A.M. this morning. The Chinese authorises announced the [...]