Responding to the latest official labour market statistics, showing there were 444,000 more people in work compared with a year earlier, Tej Parikh, Senior Economist at the Institute of Directors, said:

“The labour market is a bulwark for the UK economy just as it enters a testing period.

“Businesses have shown resilience in the face of uncertainty by opening new positions and hiring at a rapid pace. The jobs boom in turn has provided uplift to the economy, bringing more people into work and helping support household incomes.

“With wages now rising above inflation, workers will feel their pay packets going even further, which should give some reprieve for embattled retailers down the line.

“With unemployment so low, however, firms are finding it tough to recruit the talent they need, and this will only get harder in the coming months. Equally, there can be no further delays in the Government’s effort to improve the quality of training available for British businesses, as firms look to raise the productivity of their existing workforce.”