This may include advertisements from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. The UK's unemployment rate is currently 4.20 percent according to the latest data provided by the economic forecasters. Britain shares the rate with Iceland and Norway in Europe, both countries that have close ties with the EU but are not part of the bloc.
A whopping 22 EU member states fell above UK rates, starting from 4.80 percent in Bulgaria and 14.57 percent in Spain. France and Germany are above the UK at 8.10 percent and 5.30 percent. The Netherlands 2.70 percent of Denmark 3.10 percent Czech Republic 3.30 percent Malta 3.60 percent, and Hungary 3.80 percent of the EU's manufacturing sector grew at a faster rate than originally thought in December, as there was evidence that the supply chain crisis may be finally easing.
It was higher than the initial PMI reading of 57.6 though a slight drop on the three month high of 58.1 recorded in November. The growth in the sector is represented by a score above 50 on the index. The report signalled an improvement in the supply chain troubles that have hampered the sector and wider economy since the summer, with a slight easing of supplier deliveries delays.
This helped cool soaring input prices for UK factories, but not enough to stop factory gate selling prices from a new record high as firms passed on rising costs to customers. The report also cautioned that ongoing supply chain pressures and staff shortages were stymieing the overall pace of expansion, with vendor delivery times lengthening to the weakest extent for a year in December. This helped take some of the heat out of input price increases, but cost inflation remained sufficiently high to cause the sharpest rise in factory selling prices on record. Jeremy Corbyn backed to REPLACE Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader INSIGHTBROAD Brexit Britain breaks free: New rules come in to protect UK firms ANALYSISBrexit: Rejoin hammer blow as voters reject EU return REACTION Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, warned that he believes that future progress will be disrupted by the resurgence of Covid and Brexit disruption. Brexit customs checks have been bolstered, and Omicron is likely to lead to factory closures in Asia. Production growth improved to a four-month high in December, with new business from across the UK picking up more business, according to the PMI report. It added that exports were knocked down at the end of the year due to Brexit related issues, as well as concerns over further Covid restrictions in the UK and overseas. Employment jumped for the 12th month in a row in December as firms continued to hire to meet staff shortages, as well as rising new orders.