UK factories hired at a two-year high as output slowed

The S&P Global UK manufacturing PMI slipped to 51.7 in August. That is still expansion. It is also slower than July. Hiring was not. Factories took on staff at the fastest pace in more than two years, citing rising production requirements. Reuters filed the survey on 1 September. The split is the story.

A plant director in the Midlands now has a live choice: hold the extra heads and wait for the order book to catch the labour line, or treat August as a false start and freeze. Energy remains a production constraint. Skills remain scarce. Adding people into a thin technician market is expensive to reverse. Adding them late is how a recovery is missed.