UK jobs market thrived in the first three months after Brexit despite unemployment warnings

THE UK jobs market was “thriving” in the first three months after Brexit – despite warnings of a looming rise in unemployment.

Recruiter ROBERT WALTERS said its UK profit in the July to September period was up 9 per cent year-on-year at £23.4million.

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The group also reported a 27 per cent rise in its growing European business to £14.5million.

It recruits specialist staff in a range of sectors, including banking, finance, legal, marketing and IT.

Separate figures from jobs site CV-LIBRARY site show vacancies over the same period were up 8.1 per cent compared to 2015.

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In some cities, growth was particularly impressive with new jobs in Southampton up 31.5 per cent and by 18.9 per cent in Liverpool.

Chief exec Robert Walters said his firm’s “good” performance over a quarter, when many predicted the jobs market would struggle, “demonstrates the strength of our global and diversified business”.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said their results were a “positive indication” of the strength of the UK jobs market over the summer.

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He added, this was the case “especially given that there is still a great amount of uncertainty around the impact of the Brexit vote on UK jobs”.

Jobs in the retail sector, which is facing a big impact from the weak pound, were, however, down 10.3 per cent.

Mr Biggins added: “It’s great to see that certain cities and sectors are thriving and while our impending exit from the EU has already started to affect some industries, these declines do not come as too much of a surprise.”

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It comes after a report by think tank the EY Item Club out yesterday forecast will push up the jobless rate to 6 per cent by next year

This is up from its current rate of around 4.9 per cent.

Inflation is expected to jump to a near two-year high when official figures for September are published today.

The Consumer Price Index measure of inflation is forecast to reach 0.9 per cent, after stalling at 0.6 per cent in July and August.

It comes as food and fuel prices go up, in part due to the weak pound.