LONDON: British employers held off from hiring permanent staff in February, adding to signs of growing nerves ahead of Brexit in the country’s otherwise strong labor market, a survey of recruiters showed on Friday.
The permanent jobs index of the survey — produced by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and accountancy firm KPMG — edged up to 50.0, the dividing line between rising or falling staff levels.
But February’s reading was the second-weakest since the shortly after the Brexit referendum in June 2016 following January’s slump to 49.7.
The cautious start to 2019 and contrasted with strong growth in permanent hirings in 2018 and 2017.
“Overall, the labor market has been incredibly resilient over the last couple of years as employers have opted to hire more permanent and temporary staff rather than invest in long term productivity gains,” James Stewart, KPMG vice chair, said.
Britain’s unemployment rate sank to its joint lowest since 1975 at 4.0 percent in late 2018, a fall that some economists attribute to employers hiring staff rather than making longer-term commitments to investment in new equipment.
“However in 2019 Brexit uncertainty is having an opposite and chilling effect on the jobs market, with firms reassessing their level of risk,” Stewart said.
Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29 although Prime Minister Theresa May has opened up the possibility of a delay.
Amid the uncertainty, the world’s fifth-biggest economy has shown signs of slowing and the Bank of England expects the weakest growth in 2019 since the global financial crisis, even if May manages to get a Brexit transition deal.
Temporary billings rose at a steeper rate in February after increasing only slightly in January while pay rates for staff generally grew more slowly, the survey showed.
Earlier this week, a survey showed employers in Britain’s dominant services industry cut jobs at the fastest rate in more than seven years. (
UK firms hold off on permanent hires as Brexit nears — survey
UK firms hold off on permanent hires as Brexit nears — survey
India and US release a framework for an interim trade agreement to reduce Trump tariffs
- Under the deal, tariffs on goods from India would be lowered to 18 percent, from 25 percent, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil, Trump had said.
NEW DELHI: India and the United States released a framework for an interim trade agreement to lower tariffs on Indian goods, which Indian opposition accused of favoring Washington.
The joint statement, released Friday, came after US President Donald Trump announced his plan last week to reduce import tariffs on the South Asian country, six months after imposing steep taxes to press New Delhi to cut its reliance on cheap Russian crude.
Under the deal, tariffs on goods from India would be lowered to 18 percent, from 25 percent, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to stop buying Russian oil, Trump had said.
The two countries called the agreement “reciprocal and mutually beneficial” and expressed commitment to work toward a broader trade deal that “will include additional market access commitments and support more resilient supply chains.” The framework said that more negotiations will be needed to formalize the agreement.
India would also “eliminate or reduce tariffs” on all US industrial goods and a wide range of food and agricultural products, Friday’s statement said.
The US president had said that India would start to reduce its import taxes on US goods to zero and buy $500 billion worth of American products over five years, part of the Trump administration’s bid to seek greater market access and zero tariffs on almost all American exports.
Trump also signed an executive order on Friday to revoke a separate 25 percent tariff on Indian goods he imposed last year.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked Trump “for his personal commitment to robust ties.”
“This framework reflects the growing depth, trust and dynamism of our partnership,” Modi said on social media, adding it will “further deepen investment and technology partnerships between us.”
India’s opposition political parties have largely criticized the deal, saying it heavily favors the US and negatively impacts sensitive sectors such as agriculture. In the past, New Delhi had opposed tariffs on sectors such as agriculture and dairy, which employ the bulk of the country’s population.
Meanwhile, Piyush Goyal, Indian Trade Minister, said the deal protects “sensitive agricultural and dairy products” including maize, wheat, rice, ethanol, tobacco, and some vegetables.
“This (agreement) will open a $30 trillion market for Indian exporters,” Goyal said in a social media post, referring to the US annual GDP. He said the increase in exports was likely to create hundreds of thousands of new job opportunities.
Goyal also said tariffs will go down to zero on a wide range of Indian goods exported to the US, including generic pharmaceuticals, gems and diamonds, and aircraft parts, further enhancing the country’s export competitiveness.
India and the European Union recently reached a free trade agreement that could affect as many as 2 billion people after nearly two decades of negotiations. That deal would enable free trade on almost all goods between the EU’s 27 members and India, covering everything from textiles to medicines, and bringing down high import taxes for European wine and cars.
India also signed a comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Oman in December and concluded talks for a free trade deal with New Zealand.
