UK maintains strong record on high-skilled job creation

Employment rates near record highs as growth of UK high-skilled jobs outpaces that of Europe.

This week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron stated that Britain is the ‘jobs factory of Europe’. The latest round of employment data saw the unemployment rate fall to 5.8 per cent and the employment rate jump to 73 per cent.

It’s no doubt that the number of employed people in the UK remains close to record highs and unemployment continues to decline, which has the government heralding the data as proof that its economic plans are working.

The figures do showcase improvement in the economy. Furthermore, wage growth is outstripping the inflation rate and should see consumers gain more purchasing power, which would help add extra fuel to the consumer spending powered economic recovery.

UK sees significant growth in high-skilled jobs

The government funded body, The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) has now produced research that shows the number of high-skilled jobs in the UK has grown faster than that in the whole of Europe since 2006.

Furthermore to the UKCES research, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also said the UK has a “strong record on creating high-skilled jobs” and predicts that within a decade half of all jobs will fall into the high skilled category.

Job vacancies hit record high, pumping up wages

In fact, the number of jobs is increasing as a whole in the UK, according to the latest labour data release from the Office for National Statistics. The figures showed that the number of job vacancies reached a record level of 700,000, despite employment rising and unemployment falling. This means that the supply of jobs available is higher than demand, which should see employers drive up wages to try and attract the right candidates.

The positive report was also illustrated further improvement in real weekly earnings, which means that pay growth will continue to increase and boost the UK’s economic recovery even more.