Business News Round Up (16/04/2024)
UK wage growth beats expectations as unemployment ticks up
UK wage growth was higher than expected in the three months to February, but the figures were accompanied by a sharp rise in unemployment. Average earnings, including bonuses, were 5.6% higher over the period than a year earlier, according to the Office for National Statistics. Analysts had expected annual growth to slow to 5.5%. The unemployment rate averaged 4.2% in the three months to February, up 0.3% from the previous three-month period. Paul Dales, chief UK economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said that without this “clear weakening in activity in the labour market, we’d be a bit worried that the UK’s disinflation process is grinding to a halt like in the US”. But he said the sharp fall in employment suggested wage growth would continue to ease, allowing the Bank of England to cut interest rates from June even if the US Federal Reserve took longer to loosen policy.
https://www.ft.com/content/d6a7c348-646d-4258-a08c-f0debd8a6f21
Scotland’s employment rate rises – but is slower than UK average
The number of people in work in Scotland has risen but remains below the UK average. A total of 2,637,000 people in Scotland were in employment for the three months to the end of February, giving an employment rate of 74.2%, according to the latest data from the ONS. This is an increase of 11,000 people – 0.5%- from the previous quarter. The UK employment rate in the same period was 74.5%, but this was down 0.5% on the previous quarter. A total of 111,000 people in Scotland were unemployed in the three months ending in February, giving an unemployment rate of 4%, down by 11,000 from September to November 2023. More than a fifth of working-age people in Scotland – 777,000 – were classed as economically inactive between December and February, giving an economic inactivity rate of 22.6%, a marginal drop of 0.2% from the previous three months.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scotlands-employment-rate-rises-lower-32595919
73% of business are struggling to make use of their data
Google Cloud-only consultants Appsbroker & CTS have released a new report showing that IT leaders are still struggling to get full value from their ‘data brain’ – the data an organisation captures and analyses to drive business value. Most (91%) of the 150 UK IT leaders surveyed said they have a specific mandate from their board or executive team to make their organisation more data-driven and data-centric. However, almost three quarters (73%) still struggle to transform data into delivering significant business value. Key findings include businesses are using less than two fifths (39%) of their data brain – with 69% admitting to hoarding data in data lakes and using just a fraction of it. Also, 88% of organisations said they face hurdles to becoming data-driven, with the top ranking issues being IT and data complexity, legacy systems, and a lack of skills and resources.
https://www.digit.fyi/73-of-business-are-struggling-to-make-use-of-their-data/
RBS: Scotland’s private sector surpasses UK with third consecutive month of growth
Scotland’s private sector witnessed a third consecutive monthly expansion in output during March, according to RBS’ Scotland Business Activity Index. The seasonally adjusted index, measuring the month-on-month change in combined manufacturing and service sector output, rose from 52.1 in February to 53.6. This marks the most pronounced expansion in 11 months, outpacing the UK-wide growth with only London and Northern Ireland recording stronger rates of growth. However, underlying data noted a continued divergence between the two sub-sectors. While business activity rose across service providers at the sharpest pace since June 2022, the downturn in manufacturing production entered its ninth successive month and deepened since February. Scotland’s private sector signalled a second consecutive monthly rise in new business during March. This was again driven by service firms, according to sub-sector data, while the downturn in manufacturing new orders entered its twelfth successive month.