AUGUST SAW LABOUR OUTPUT GROWTH FALL TO SIX-MONTH LOW

The number of UK sectors reporting output growth fell to a six-month low last month, with the transport sector seeing the biggest impact from labour shortages, according to the latest Lloyds Bank UK Recovery Tracker (The Times). It found that the output of transport companies fell to a reading of 42.9, indicating contraction, while the output of tourism and recreation increased to 61.7 last month.  

Meanwhile, employment opportunities were 30 per cent below their usual level for almost three quarters of the workforce despite shortages in several sectors, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (The Guardian)

GOVERNMENT BORROWING FELL TO £20.5 BILLION IN AUGUST 

Government borrowing fell to £20.5 billion last month, £5.5 billion less than in the same month last year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (Financial Times). However, this was the second highest August amount since records began in 1993 and exceeded the £15.6 billion forecast by Reuters (City AM)

NEWS IN BRIEF

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called on the government to introduce a targeted Covid-19 Recovery visa to help attract international workers and to work with the EU on new agreements regarding regulatory equivalence (City AM).

New travel rules will come into effect in November enabling vaccinated passengers to enter the US from the UK and EU (Sky News).

France's European affairs minister Clement Beaune told reporters before a meeting of EU counterparts in Brussels that Britain must uphold its side of post-Brexit deals, saying 'trust, consistency, respect of accords - are not always there? (Reuters).

A new law which will protect flexible working will be confirmed on Thursday, enabling employees to put in requests to work from home from their first day in a new job (City AM).

Asking prices for houses in Britain rose by 0.3 per cent to a record high of £338,462 this month, resuming their upward trend as buyer demand far outstripped the supply of houses coming on to the market, according to Rightmove (Reuters).

Blog

Matthew Davies, Director, IF/ABL, UK Finance discusses the 2021 edition of the World Factoring Yearbook (WFY) which UK Finance has contributed to.