The Bank of England (BoE) is closely monitoring Britain’s labour market for signs of further inflationary pressure.
Thursday’s data – which the ONS gets from job search engine Adzune – echo other mixed signals about the labour market.
A shortage of workers has intensified following Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ONS said 27% of businesses with at least 10 staff reported worker shortages in late February, similar to the 28% reported in early January.
Other indicators of the wider economy, including consumer confidence and business surveys, have shown improvement, easing worries about a lengthy recession.
The ONS said that spending on debit and credit cards rose by 3 percentage points in the week to March 2 compared with the same week in 2022.
Read more at Reuters
