EUR GBP Flat Ahead of UK Employment Figures

The EUR GBP exchange rate was flat on Monday, but the euro recovered earlier losses with the pair moving as low as 0.8505 before closing nearer 0.8535.  Today sees the latest UK employment figures released with the market expecting a strong 178k jobs added for the period. Tomorrow will bring the latest core inflation numbers for the UK.

The EUR to GBP rate has seen four consecutive days of losses after a euro rebound stalled.

Traders looking for a strong employment report

The latest employment reading will be released for the UK economy today with traders looking for 178k jobs created, compared in the previous release.

Unemployment in the UK has been improving over the last few months with the economy reopening, and this has been highlighted by a sharp drop in the claimant count since March, when it was 7.2%. That figure has since dropped to 5.7% in July, as businesses get the green light for hiring.

The UK’s unemployment rate was lower to 4.7% in the last reading, but the furlough scheme is still masking the larger damage. The rate is expected to fall further to 4.6% for the three months to July. Wages growth has been rising due to staff shortages and inflation, but those two elements are also putting a cap on hiring in the near-term.

By contrast, the eurozone unemployment rate is at 7.2% after registering over 8% in the pandemic peak. Unemployment is worse in the tourist hotspots with Spain and Greece at 15%.

Tech firms boost job outlook but TUC warns on green progress

Over 600,000  jobs could be at risk if the UK fails to reach its zero carbon targets as quickly as other nations, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has warned.

The TUC called on Boris Johnson to speed up green investment and hasten the move to “net-zero” carbon dioxide emissions.

TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady said: “The world is moving very clearly in one direction – away from carbon and toward net-zero. The UK must keep up with the pace of change. There’s still time to protect vital jobs in manufacturing and its supply chains. But the clock is ticking.”

“Unless the government urgently scales up investment in green tech and industry, we risk losing hundreds of thousands of decent jobs to competitor nations,” she added.

Many of the areas where jobs are said to be most under threat are located in the UK’s industrial heartlands, but the government has been looking to boost those areas with the freeport announcement and new wind power schemes.

Ms O’Grady added: “If we move quickly, we can still safeguard Britain’s industrial heartlands. The government should boost investment to at least the G7 average and commit to the Green Jobs Taskforce plans in full.”

For Brexit Britain, the path towards zero emissions would actually be easier than for Europe. We saw with the early vaccine chaos in the eurozone that pulling all of the countries towards the same goal in Europe is not an easy process.

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