Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, financial markets, the eurozone and trade.
The cost of living in the UK has plummeted, with basic wages falling behind inflation at the fastest rate in seven years.
Latest jobs figures released recently show that regular real wages (adjusted for inflation) fell 1% Year after year from three months to January. This is the biggest drop in real regular wages since May to July 2014 (it also fell 0.9% early in the pandemic).
Due to strong bonus payments over the past six months, total wages in real terms increased by only 0.1%.
salary increased nominal Conditions: Total salary (including bonus) increased by 4.8% in November-January 2022, while regular salary (excluding bonus) stood at 3.8%.
But those wage increases were offset by rising prices – CPIH inflation (the ONS’s preferred inflation measure) averaged 4.8% in the quarter.
And the pressure will continue in the coming months, as higher energy and food prices drive up the cost of living. Consumer inflation is expected to jump to over 7% by April.
National Statistics Office (ONS)
(@we)Taking inflation into account, the average salary including bonus increased 0.1% in the year from November 2021 to January 2022, while it fell 1.0% in the year excluding bonus https://t.co/aQD7xRiAOQ pic.twitter.com/l0Rjrqwn84
The report also shows that the unemployment rate in the UK has fallen again to 3.9%, from 4.1% three months ago – back to its pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.
But even when the employment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 75.6%, it was still 1.0 percentage point below pre-pandemic levels due to a decline in self-employment.
There were about 32.5m people in employment – up 380,000k in the previous year, but still 580k less than before the pandemic.
Vacancies rose to a new record of 1,318,000 in the three months to February, as companies struggled to fill roles.
National Statistics Office (ONS)
(@we)There were 1.318 million job vacancies on an average from December 2021 to February 2022, up from 1.213 million in the previous quarter https://t.co/DMbHJG1dqA pic.twitter.com/7TPsEJNcL3
The number of people on company payrolls hit a new record high in February, rising from 275,000 to a new record of 29.7 million.
More details and feedback to follow.
still coming today
Share Market There are sharp spikes as Covid-19 infections rise rapidly in China, raising fears that more lockdowns may be introduced to slow the pandemic.
Domestically transmitted cases more than doubled yesterday to 3,507, testing the country’s tough “dynamic evacuation” approach to Covid-19.
Yesterday, a province of 24 million people was locked down, with major companies such as Apple supplier Foxconn suspending work.
of Hong Kong hang senYes The index, which was at a six-year low yesterday, is down another 6% today.
PIQ
(@PriapusIQ)Esshh.. it’s a serious over in Hong Kong
~ Hang Seng Index down over 6% pic.twitter.com/GJu23bq4PE
European markets are set to open lower.
iSquawk
(@IGSquawk)European Opening Call:#FTSE 7156 -0.52%#DAX 13860 -0.49%# cac 6335 -0.54%#AEX 670 -0.71%#mib 23225 -0.86%#IBEX 8184-0.61%#omx 2087 -0.43%#smi 11595 -0.72%#STOXX 3720 -0.57%#IGOpeningCall
Hundreds of oligarchs, individuals and organizations linked to the Putin regime are expected to be named on Britain’s sanctions list after the fast-tracked economic crimes bill last night.
Investors are also looking at Russia, which faces $117m loan repayments tomorrow. Last night, Moscow said it had started processing payments, but it was unclear whether the payments were in US dollars – the currency in which they were issued – or rubles.
With most of Russia’s foreign exchange reserves frozen, it may not be able to pay dollars, which means it could default (after the 30-day grace period).
work schedule
- 7am GMT: UK labor market report
- 7.45 a.m. GMT: French inflation for February
- 10am GMT: ZEW survey of eurozone economic confidence
- 12.30 pm GMT: US PPI measure of US producer prices for February