Job growth remains strong despite Brexit fears

Up-to-the-minute data from the UK’s largest job site, reed.co.uk, reveals that job opportunities across the country are up 8.2% on the same time last year. However, the monthly index fell by three points (1%) compared to June. Overall, the Reed Job Index for July stands at 289.

The latest figures show that more than two-thirds of the nation’s employment sectors (70%) are healthier than they were in July 2015. The strongest amongst these are Security & Safety (+47.7%), Education (+28.8%) and Construction & Property (+24.5%).

The Manufacturing Job Index stands at 418 and is up 18.4% annually. This is an especially encouraging sign for longer-term economic prospects, particularly in light of Markit’s latest PMI figures, which reported that manufacturing output has dropped to its lowest level since February 2013.

Of the sectors seeing declines in annual growth, Apprenticeships (-29.8%), Banking (-15.8%) and Energy (-14.7%) are among those hardest hit.

Around the UK, every region continues to enjoy annual jobs growth, with Northern Ireland, the North West and Wales seeing the biggest increases in new opportunities.

While the job market is still growing, reed.co.uk has seen the average rate of growth decline to below 10% in 2016 compared with 24.7% for the whole of 2015. Month on month, growth is down marginally from 8.9% in June to 8.2% in July.

The latest Reed Job Index data comes as the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee prepares to issue its latest interest rate-setting decision on Thursday.

James Reed, Chairman of reed.co.uk comments: “Our up-to-the-minute jobs data shows that UK businesses are still hiring. However, there are clear signs of a slowdown that should not be ignored.

“This is an important moment for policymakers because decisions made this summer will have an impact for many years to come. If it was up to me, I would aggressively cut taxes and interest rates to avert a recession.”