From May 2017 to May 2018, real average hourly earnings in the USA were unchanged, on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Combined with a 0.3-percent increase in the average workweek, real average weekly earnings increased by 0.3 percent over the year.

The Colchester Jobs Fair is on the Wednesday 20th June 2018. 

The event is between 10am and 1pm at the Colchester Town Hall, High St, Colchester CO1 1PJ.

Free to attend with no registration required.

Image: Colchester Jobs Fair

Image: Courtesy of Google, map of Colchester Town Hall

The Brighton Jobs Fair is on the Friday 22nd June 2018, at the Jurys Inn Waterfront says the organisers.

The event is between 10am and 2pm. Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront, Kings Rd, Brighton BN1 2GS

Free to attend with no registration required.

The Jobs Fair is a great way to speak with potential employers face-to-face. You can register with employers for jobs, collect info on employers, ask them questions, apply for jobs, or even have a mini interview on the day.

It is a good idea to bring up to date copies of your CV with you as between 15 - 20 companies will be recruiting on the day. 

The Social Security Committee has today launched an inquiry into Social Security and In-work Poverty.  Please find attached below a link to the call for written views.  A pdf version is also attached.

www.parliament.scot/in-work-poverty

The Committee would be grateful to receive written submissions by Thursday 23 August 2018.  If you wish to make a written submission please read our privacy notice about submitting your views to a Committee. This tells you about how we process your personal data.

ABC Note: For any questions, the Social Security Committee clerking team can be contacted by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on 0131 348 5320

ABC Comment: Have your say below: 

Chief Electoral Officer Virginia McVea launches electoral digital registration in Northern Ireland today.

For the first time, local people will be able to register to vote online via: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Speaking at the launch of the new voter registration system surrounded by the next generation of voters at Hazelwood Integrated College in north Belfast, CEO Virginia McVea said:

“I am pleased to announce that people in Northern Ireland will now be able to register online.

“You can use any device to go online and fill in your details, with the whole process taking less than five minutes.

“This innovative new online system will make it even easier for people to register to vote. For anyone who can’t or does not want to register to vote digitally, the paper registration form is still available.”

ABC Comment: Have your say on electoral digital registration:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that people receiving the highest level of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) will have annual reassessments replaced with reassessments every ten years.

Image: Laura Cockram, Head of Policy and Campaigning at Parkinson’s UK

Laura Cockram, Head of Policy and Campaigning at Parkinson’s UK commented:

“This announcement will be welcome news for people with Parkinson’s currently receiving the highest level of PIP, as they will now avoid needless and stressful annual reassessments.

“However it will only affect half of people with the condition currently receiving PIP, and is a piecemeal solution for a broken system that needs a complete overhaul.

“The assessment process is simply not fit for purpose, and does not recognise the reality of living with long-term, progressive conditions. PIP can offer a vital lifeline; however, people with Parkinson’s can find the assessment process humiliating and stressful, with assessor’s ignorance of Parkinson’s commonplace.

“This is a step in the right direction but far more fundamental changes are needed. We look forward to working with the Department for Work and Pensions to review the guidance being given to assessors, and help make it fit for purpose.”

ABC Comment. Have your say below. Is this a good development for those on PIP's? 

Santander responded to our ‘Iceland’ complaint today.

Mr A. placed an order with Iceland for home delivery just after midnight on a Thursday. The payment was approved by the bank at 5:30am in the morning, but Iceland could not deliver till Saturday morning. Iceland only take the money on the day they deliver, in case items were out of stock.   Mr A overspent on Friday, thinking he was better off than he was but the cash was NOT reserved, so come Saturday in the early hours, the order was cancelled and between 8.00am and 10.00am nothing turned up.

A beetroot face for ‘A’ and no goodies in the larder. Worse, still it is easy to overestimate one’s wealth and spend money, then find the funds you need for food till benefit day, have all been spent.

Santander hold reserved money when purchases are not made and then re-credit the money if it is not claimed stated the banks represented. This money was credited back a bit early.

Santander were very generous in their response, but this case did highlight an anomaly.  Internet shopping can present risks for those living on a low income. Especially at the weekend when purchases do not show up till the following week. At ABC HQ we use ledgers in spreadsheets. However, these account ledgers are updated soon after, not in real time.

A special thank you for Santander and their kind response. We ourselves have always found Santander an excellent bank to deal with; very responsive if there is an issue in question, and overall very efficient indeed.

ABC Comment. Are you happy with you bank? Please feel free to add a comment below:

The ABC had the chance to talk to the DWP central communications team this morning about the National Audit Office (NAO) report on the roll-out of Universal Credit (UC) today. We have given the DWP a right-to-reply below: 

A DWP spokesman said:

“Previous administrations poured billions into an outdated system with a complex myriad of benefits, which locked some people into cycles of welfare dependency.  Whereas we are building a benefit system fit for the 21^st century, providing flexible, person-centred support, with evidence showing Universal Credit claimants getting into work faster and staying in work longer.

“Universal Credit is good value for money and is forecast to realise a return on investment of £34bn over ten years against a cost of £2bn, with 200,000 more people in work.  Furthermore 83 per cent of claimants are satisfied with the service and the majority agree that it 'financially motivates' them to work.

“As the NAO acknowledges, we have made significant improvements to Universal Credit as part of our ‘listen and learn’ approach to its rollout, and it's on track to be in all jobcentres nationally by the end of 2018.”

Further information:

• We currently have record employment with 32.39m people now in work – a figure that is set to grow by 200,000 once Universal Credit is fully rolled out.
• Universal Credit adjusts to an individual’s earnings (unlike the previous system where people lost access to benefits once they worked over a certain number of hours).
• Analysis also shows that those who are in work and claiming Universal Credit are better off by £600 a year. Claimants are also better supported with tailored support from their work coach, help with housing costs, budgeting advice, and 100% advances payable on the same day if people are in urgent need.
• We have a taken a test and learn approach with Universal Credit and have listened when concerns have been raised. This has included 1,500 changes based on feedback from stakeholders and other interested parties.  Changes to date include:
• Advance payments of up to 100 per cent, available on the same day if there is urgent need
• Direct payments to landlords
• 2 weeks’ housing benefit run-on
• Removing waiting days
• Support for kinship carers
• Extending transitional protection, including for those claimants receiving the Severe Disability Premium.

ABC Note: You can comment below if you wish.

The economic output statistics were published today by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

Services Sector Output

Output in the services sector increased in real terms (by 0.7%) over the first quarter of 2018 (January to March), with output at its highest point since Quarter 3 (Q3) 2008. NI output in this sector is 4.2% lower than the NI series high (Q4 2006). Growth over the year (1.1%) in the sector was just below UK growth of 1.2% over the equivalent period (Q1 2017 to Q1 2018).
 

The quarterly and annual growth in the services sector was driven by growth in the Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; accommodation and food service activities sector (3.9% over the quarter and 2.5% over the year) and in the Transport, storage, information and communication sector (0.8% over the quarter and 3.5% over the year). In contrast there was a 5.9% decline over the quarter and 3.5% decline over the year in the Other services sector (this sector includes other activities not covered elsewhere - education, health & social work, arts, entertainment and recreation and other services) and a 0.3% decline over the quarter and the year in the Business services and finance sector.

In the longer term, when the most recent four quarters are compared to the previous four quarters, both the NI and UK services sectors reported annualised growth of 1.3% to Quarter 1 2018.

Production Sector Output

Production output in NI fell marginally over the first quarter (by 0.2%) but sharply over the year (by 5.1%). The UK production sector reported an increase in output over the quarter (0.6%) and year (2.0%).
 

The change in the IOP is caused by quarterly increases in the Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply sector and the Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management (including Recycling) sector of 1.4% and 5.6% respectively, offset by a 13.1% fall in the Mining and Quarrying sector, (which accounts for 2.5% of the index), and a 0.9% fall in the Manufacturing sector. The Manufacturing sector itself contained quarterly subsector rises, but falls in the indices for Manufacture of Food, Beverages and Tobacco products; Manufacture of Basic Metals & Fabricated Metal Products; and Manufacturing of Computer, Electronic, Electrical & Optical Products (5.7%, 3.2% and 3.5% respectively).

Looking at a longer term trend, when the most recent four quarters are compared to the previous four quarters, output in the NI production sector fell by 4.6%, with the whole of the UK reporting growth on this basis of 1.7%.

Commentary

The services sector has continued to grow with annual growth recorded for the last fourteen reporting periods. This is in contrast to the production sector where there has been decreases reported in four of the last five quarters back to the beginning of 2017. Over this period the labour market has continued to improve with further growth in employee jobs and unemployment close to the series record low point.
 

Output in the services sector increased in real terms (by 0.7%) over the first quarter of 2018, with output at its highest point since Q3 2008. Production sector output remained broadly flat (down 0.2% over the quarter in real terms) but is still 9.3% above the minimum recorded point in Q3 2009.

In the labour market, the unemployment rate fell over the year and rose over the quarter to 3.3% which is the third lowest on record. The employment rate (February – April 2018) increased over the year and fell over the quarter to 69.7%. At 27.9% the economic inactivity rate remained steady over the quarter but has increased 0.7 percentage points since the same time last year.

The total number of employee jobs increased over the quarter (6,090 jobs) and over the year (18,610 jobs) to a series high of 763,440. The annual growth has been driven by an increase in private sector jobs, and an increase in services sector jobs.

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 2.3% in May 2018, up from 2.2% in April 2018.

Rising motor fuel prices produced the largest upward contribution to the change in the rate between April and May 2018.

There were also large upward effects from air and sea fares, which rose between April and May this year but fell between the same two months a year ago, influenced by the timing of Easter.

Partially offsetting downward effects came from price changes for games, domestic electricity, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and furniture and furnishings.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate was 2.4% in May 2018, unchanged from April 2018.

Image: Fuel Prices have jumped recently.

The Institute of Directors take:

The Office for National Statistics has confirmed that inflation remained at 2.4% in May. It said the 3.8% rise in fuel prices – the biggest monthly jump since January 2011 – precluded a fall in inflation. 

Inflation has been falling since November 2017. 

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will take the latest inflation figures into account when it meets next month. There is debate amongst economists over whether the Bank will raise interest rates. 

Responding to the latest inflation statistics, the IoD’s Senior Economist Tej Parikh said plateauing inflation will likely be “frustrating” for businesses and households alike. The drop in wage growth combined with an increase in fuel prices “remind us that the cost of living remains strained”. 

The figures are “unlikely to alter the Bank of England’s likely strategy to ‘wait and see’ for more data”, he added.

An increase in oil prices also led to a 9.2% rise in the cost of raw materials for businesses. 

The news follows as the ONS reported that wage growth slowed in the three months to April. 

ABC Comment: Higher fuel prices, are you feeling the squeeze?