“Today’s ONS figures provide further evidence of historic tightness in the labour market. Despite a slight fall, there are still over 1.12 million vacancies across the UK. This confirms our own research that most firms are still trying to recruit staff. "
Blog from Sarah Howard MBE, Chair of the BCC.
There was no big boost to trade volumes to start 2023. Removing cyclical factors in the trade data, goods export volumes to both the EU and rest of the world have remained constant over the past year. But goods trade values fell in January.
The delays to HS2 will start alarm bells ringing and raise fears that it will be cut further. It is also disappointing to hear that the Lower Thames Crossing has been put back two years.
UK economy should avoid a technical recession but shrink by 0.3% in 2023, before returning to growth in 2024; inflation will slow to 5% by Q4 2023. But the economy will not currently return to its pre-pandemic size until the final quarter of 2024.
Two thirds (67%) of women who have had childcare responsibilities in the last 10 years felt they missed out on career progression as a result More than eight in ten (86%) women disagree that there is sufficient support for people with caring responsibilities for elderly or disabled relatives or friends Almost half (43%) of women feel they will miss out on career opportunities as a result of menopause