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Brits enjoy biggest pay hikes since 2008 credit crisis – led by BRICKIES

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HARD-working Brits are enjoying the biggest pay hike since the 2008 credit crisis — with brickies leading the rise.

Average pay, including bonuses, in the three months to July leapt by four per cent, official figures show.

The construction sector enjoyed the highest jump of 6.2 per cent.

Meanwhile employment rose by 31,000 to nearly 32.8million — a record high — according to the Office for National Statistics.

OAPs are also expected to benefit under the Government’s “Triple Lock” guarantee. This should mean a four per cent rise in state pension payouts next year.

Chancellor Sajid Javid said the figures proved that, combined with tax cuts, “people across the country are taking home more every week”.

THE GLASS HALF-EMPTY VIEW

But experts warned of signs that the jobs market is softening — pointing to the rise in employed Brits being markedly lower than the 53,000 predicted by the City.

Figures showed that while employment rose by 70,000 for over-50s, it fell by nearly 40,000 for younger age groups. And as the number of women in work rose by 60,000 to a new record, male employment dropped by 29,000.

The Sun Says

THE new job and pay figures are staggeringly rosy given Parliament’s Brexit chaos.

How foolish the doom-mongers look.

And imagine how much better the picture will be once investment, currently on ice, pours back in when Brexit is finally complete — even with No Deal.

What a moment for Jeremy ­Corbyn to unveil Labour’s big plan to massively enhance militant unions’ power and hammer the firms creating those jobs.

His claim that the economy is broken is manifestly ridiculous. Pay is soaring at its fastest in 11 years. A record number are working full-time. Long-term unemployment has halved in five years.

France’s joblessness is more than double ours, Italy’s almost three times. Our July growth was 0.3 per cent, while ­Germany is almost in recession.

Corbyn may have weirdly romantic memories of the bleak socialist 1970s where his extremism was forged.

God help us all if he takes Britain back there — as the world’s other capitalist economies forge ahead towards 2050.


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Tony Wilson, of the Institute of Employment Studies, said: “Optimists will point to continued record employment and earnings growth higher than at any point since the recession.

“For pessimists though, there are strong signs of things slowing down: vacancies have fallen to their lowest since 2017 and the growth in employment is virtually flat.”

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “The UK ‘jobs miracle’ is starting to lose its shine.”

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