The current low interest rates and on-going economic crisis have led to growing suggestions that the Bank of England (BoE) could turn to negative interest rates as a way of stimulating the country. However, the recent comments from the bank’s governor point out that they aren’t yet considering this option.
What Was Said?
The latest figures suggest that redundancies in the UK are now at their highest level since 2009, as the crisis provoked for the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown begins to take its toll on the employment market.
A Look at the Numbers
Current data on this subject comes from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). They have confirmed that 156,000 people in the UK lost their jobs in the 3 months leading up to July this year. This was 48,000 more than were made redundant in the 3 quarters to May.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to leave Eurozone interest rates at the current levels and revised its 2021 forecast upwards, leading to an immediate reaction in the markets.
What Does This Mean?
This decision to keep interest rates unchanged means that the historically low headline rate of 0% remains in place. A negative rate of -0.5% will still be charged on deposits belonging to commercial banks, in an effort to encourage them to lend more money.
The UK’s return to work following lockdown continues to be worryingly slow. However, a report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed that the number of people travelling to work has increased slightly in recent weeks.
The Latest Numbers
The ONS stated that 57% of British working adults travelled to their workplace in the days from 26 August to the 30th of that month. This was a modest increase from the 55% that made this trip a couple of weeks earlier, and a more significant jump from the 33% reported in May.
The UK’s return to normal from the Covid-19 pandemic continues, with the latest signs of recovery coming from the manufacturing sector. In line with factories across the planet, British manufacturing firms saw their activity increase in August.
More Details
The numbers come from the UK manufacturing PMI update that was issued by Markit. They revealed a rise from 53.3 up to 55.2 in August. Any figure over 50 reflects growth in the sector.
The economic turmoil caused by this year’s lockdown continues to cause damage to the jobs market. In fact, the latest figures show that retail jobs have been lost in 2020 at a faster rate than has been seen since 2009.
The Report
This data comes from the CBI’s monthly distributive trades survey. It looks at the country’s employment figures for 2020, up to September, in the retail industry. The results presented are worse than had been expected.
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