PAYstats Pay and Labour Market Statistics, June 2020

Latest pay and labour market statistics June 2020:

• The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 0.7% in May 2020, down from 0.9% in April 2020.
• The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate was 0.5% in May 2020, down from 0.8% in April.
• Early indicators for May 2020 suggest that the number of employees in the UK on payrolls is down over 600,000 compared with March 2020. The Claimant Count has continued to rise, enhancements to Universal Credit as part of the UK government's response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) mean an increase in the number of people eligible.
• The UK employment rate in the three months to April 2020 was estimated at 76.4%, 0.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier but 0.1 percentage points down on the previous quarter.
• The UK unemployment rate for the three months to April 2020 was estimated at 3.9%, 0.1 percentage points higher than a year earlier but largely unchanged on the previous quarter.
• Employee average pay growth slowed notably in April 2020, and the three months to April saw total pay fall in real terms for the first time since January 2018; pay declined in industries where furloughing was most prominent, many of these being the lowest-paying industries, in particular accommodation and food service activities.
• The three months to April 2020 saw total pay fall in real terms for the first time since January 2018.
• There were an estimated 476,000 vacancies in the UK in March to May 2020; this is 342,000 fewer than the previous quarter and 365,000 fewer than a year earlier.