Employment looks better in final PMIs

The services PMI picked up and we have now seen the employment components look better in both the final services and final manufacturing reports than was the case in the flash. This had been something that we thought was a bit of an early warning flag from the flash PMI data, and that flag is still waving but less vigorously. The details behind the upward revision on the whole look pretty positive.

Below are the parts of the press release relating to the labour market:

• Flash: "That said, the rate of job creation eased slightly since April and was the least marked for 13 months. Some businesses noted that a desire to reduce costs had led to the non-replacement of voluntary leavers."
• Services final: "The latest survey highlighted another robust increase in staffing numbers. The rate of job creation was unchanged since April, with many firms commenting on efforts to rebuild business capacity and realign workforce numbers with the recovery in client demand. Survey respondents once again commented on severe shortages of candidates to fill vacancies, which led to rising wages and acted as a brake on growth."
• Manufacturing final: "UK manufacturing employment rose for the seventeenth successive month in May, albeit at the slowest pace since last October."