UK Job Surveys Show More Private Sector Hiring and Stronger Pay

Britain’s employers stepped up hiring for white-collar roles and permanent staff, pointing to upward pressure on wages that the Bank of England is worried may feed inflation, two separate surveys indicated.

Vacancies for professional jobs in the private sector jumped to almost 37,000 in July, the most since March 2023, according to data from company websites and job boards provided to Bloomberg by recruiter Robert Walters Plc. That’s up by a third from last month, when companies paused recruitment ahead of the July 4 general election. It’s also a 14% annual rise — a rate not seen since the post-Covid rebound in 2022.