economy Articles

Unemployment reaches lowest rate since 1970s
marketing | 26 September 2022
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Britain’s unemployment rate reached 3.6% in the three months to July 2022. This figure was down 0.2 percentage points on the previous quarter and represents the lowest rate since 1974.

Temporary worker billings increase as available candidate pool drains
marketing | 24 February 2022
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Latest analysis of the UK jobs market by KPMG and REC shows that temporary worker billings have increased significantly in recent months.

The UK Report on Jobs for January shows that hiring activity increased again at the start of 2022.

marketing | 6 August 2015
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Demand for finance and accounting contractors has increased dramatically over the past year and is poised for further growth, a new report suggests.

2014 has been and gone, and Europe’s digital economy has been reviewed. Things make interesting, if not exactly great reading for the UK. Although Great Britain is Europe’s sixth best digital performer, it is still out-performed by the likes of Denmark, Finland and Belgium.

Companies call on Treasury to delay National Insurance rise Umbrella.co.uk

Business groups have called on the Chancellor Rishi Sunak to delay a planned increase to National Insurance amid rising prices and a slowdown in recruitment activity.

Make UK, which represents 20,000 manufacturing firms in the UK, called the £12bn tax boost ‘illogical and ill-timed’. They argued that April’s 1.25 percentage point increase to the tax on employees and employers should wait until the economy is on a firmer footing.

How Brexit Will Affect Contractors

Brexit day is fast approaching and there is little certainty over how the negotiations will turn out.

Whatever happens, Brexit is likely to impact contractors in the UK. There may be some benefits in the short and long term, but many contractors are also likely to face some restrictions on their work.

In this blog post, we investigate the most likely Brexit outcomes and how they will affect contractors in the UK.

marketing | 25 June 2015
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The UK’s improving financial performance has been helped, in a large way, by contractors. That is one of the conclusions offered in the RSA’s (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce) recent report on how small business benefits the UK’s economy.

Small businesses, the rise of the self-employed and the role of contractors were all factors in driving UK productivity and righting the titling ship in a post-2008 Britain.

Umbrella’s Louise Sayers had this to say on the report’s findings: “Well at Umbrella HQ we are often singing the praises of contractors, so this report chimes perfectly with that! Its just further affirmation of the positive role contractors play in our economy bouncing back and improving year on year.”