Surprise Rise In Inflation As Uncertainty Remains

Surprise Rise In Inflation As Uncertainty Remains

Responding to the latest inflation figures from the ONS, David Bharier, Head of Research at the British Chambers of Commerce said:      “Consumer price inflation remains stubborn with a slightly higher than expected growth rate of 4% in December 2023, and no change in core inflation at 5.1%. However, producer…

Read Story

Business Pressures Persist As Labour Market Cools

Responding to the latest labour market data from ONS, Jane Gratton, Deputy Director Public Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce said:   “Today’s data confirms labour market conditions are continuing to cool, with wage growth and the number of vacancies falling once again. However, labour costs remain a huge…

Read Story

Quarterly Recruitment Outlook: Hiring Headaches And Labour Costs Loom Large

Over three quarters (76%) of firms attempting to recruit faced difficulties Firms in the hospitality sector remain the most likely to report challenges in hiring staff (82%) 68% of companies say labour costs are a financial pressure 59% of companies attempted to recruit in the quarter The latest Quarterly Recruitment…

Read Story

Uncertain Times Ahead For Global Trade

Reacting to the ONS trade data for November 2023, William Bain, BCC Head of Trade Policy, said:    “The positives are there was a pick-up in some export sectors in goods trade with the EU, particularly in automotive sales. Services also remained steady for a further month, with only very small…

Read Story

Economic Growth Remains Fragile

Responding to the latest GDP data from the ONS, Alex Veitch, Director of Policy and Insight at the British Chambers of Commerce, said:    “Today’s ONS data, showing GDP grew 0.3% in November, but fell 0.2% in the three months to then, indicates how fragile UK economic growth is right now.  …

Read Story

BCC Quarterly Economic Survey: Business Confidence Boost Fails To Revive Investment

Business confidence improves in Q4, with 56% of UK businesses expecting an increase in turnover in the next twelve months. Despite this boost, most firms continue to report no improvement to sales, cash flow or investment. Downward trend in price growth expectations ends with more expecting their prices to rise…

Read Story