One York company has increased all staff wages by 21%, a new report has revealed.
The firm brought in the across-the-board pay hike to retain staff and ease recruitment pressures.
It comes as economic pressures mount York firms, according to a new report.
The City of York Council quarterly economic update says: “One large company in the city has resorted to recruiting from further afield and promoting remote working where possible.
“There are also wage pressures across most sectors, with staff expecting upward of 5% increase in salary as a minimum, reflecting the current rate of inflation. Wage demands for remote workers is increasing even faster.
“One company with multiple sites is seeing remote recruitment wage demands come closer to London wage rate.”
Higher bills
The report also outlines the increases in bills facing residents and businesses.
“Common threads of concern” among businesses include “ongoing difficulties caused by supply chains, cash flow blockages, recruitment difficulties, high energy bills and a general market slow down which has had an impact on confidence levels”.
The Federation for Small Businesses (FSB) estimates that electricity and gas bills for businesses will have doubled or trebled, or in some cases increased by four-to-five fold, this quarter.
“With 97.5% of York’s businesses being small and micro sized, it can be expected that they fit into the FSB’s cost estimations, which itself corroborates with the findings picked up by the Council’s business growth managers from their workings with York’s businesses.”
According for the Centre For Cities, the inflation rate in York was estimated to be 9.8% in August.
“With the exception of Warrington, this is the lowest rate recorded in northern England, but it is relatively high in comparison to southern cities such as London, Cambridge and Reading,” the report says.
“The price of energy and petrol appears to be main driving force behind the rise in the inflation rate in York.”
In the second quarter of 2022 (April-June), the energy spend by an average York resident increased by 28% – up £43.27 to £151.58.
“For petrol, the Q2 spend for 2022 per unique user was £116 per month which is roughly £24 more than a year earlier, but when accounted for inflation it is £8 less than a year earlier,” the report says.
“This indicates that the greater spend on petrol is due to the rise in price of petrol rather than residents purchasing a greater quantity of petrol.”
Rises in borrowing rates will be of concern to the 26,313 households in York which have a mortgage.
However, the number of job vacancies in York is still high, the report says. “At the beginning of October, there were 3,828 job vacancies within five miles of York city centre from the job website Indeed.”
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