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Highlights
- The cost-of-living crisis has affected the unemployment rate, growing from 3.8% to 3.9%.
- The latest ONS figures indicate that approximately 136,000 employees left between March and April.
- In fact, the number of vacancies has dipped to just over one million in the three months.
If the rising cost of living crisis and inflation were not enough, Britain’s unemployment rate would have added headaches for the workers in the country. In fact, rising interest rates have resulted in the number of workers on UK employers’ payrolls. The payrolls in the country dipped for the first time since 2021.
The latest ONS figures highlighted a 136,000 employee drop between March and April. This was the first time the number of employees had dropped since last year. Prior to April’s fall, the payrolls were over 800,000 higher than during the Covid-19 lockdown period. ONS further added that this drop indicates the cooling in demand for labours.
The cost-of-living crisis has affected the unemployment rate, growing from 3.8% to 3.9%. In fact, the number of vacancies has dipped to just over one million in the three months.
The Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey Andrew Bailey has admitted Britain is amidst a wage-price spiral. However, he feels that this crisis may be a short-lived one. Besides unemployment, the number of days lost due to strikes has also affected the job market figures.
Amidst this, let’s explore some of the recruitment stocks.
Hays Plc (LON: HAS)
Leading global specialist recruitment firm, Hays Plc, is primarily an FTSE-250 constituent. Hays Plc operates over 266 offices in 33 countries and holds a market cap of £ 1,797.64 million. The FTSE-250 constituent on 18 May was witnessing a 0.97% gain and was trading at GBX 114.00 along with an EPS of 0.09. The stock price’s returns were poor on an annual and YTD basis at -6.33% and -1.47%, respectively.
Staffline Group Plc (LON:STAF)
This FTSE AIM-All Share constituent, Staffline Group, is a recruitment firm. This Nottingham-based recruiting firm was trading at GBX 39.42 and was down by -0.83%. Staffline Group held a market cap of £64.57 million, providing a return of -063% on a YTD basis.
PageGroup plc (LON: PAGE)
Another FTSE-250 constituent on 18 May was trading at GBX 440.00, down by -0.77%. The recruitment services firm held a market cap of £ 1,457.10 million with negative annual returns of -9.39%. It held an EPS of 0.37 with a turnover (on book) of £103,079.70.
