One unexpected, but welcome by-product of COVID has been a surge in the availability of high-frequency economic indicators, mainly sourced from the private sector. Central banks track these series, although their short histories and extreme volatility at the height of the pandemic can make it hard to judge their usefulness. In the case of labour costs, wages growth adjusted for productivity is a key influence on services inflation given labour is the main cost for many businesses. On labour costs, employment agencies have been publishing growth in advertised wages for some time. Encouragingly, on these non-official ... (full story)