UK card spending, online job ads fall after Easter – ONS

Measures of consumer behaviour in Britain weakened after the recent Easter holidays, and online job adverts also decreased, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday.

Interbank CHAPS payments related to spending on credit and debit cards fell nine percentage points in the week to April 21 from the previous week to stand at 96% of their average in February 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Britain.

Figures from jobs website Adzuna showed online job adverts decreased by 7% in the latest week to 134% of their February 2020 level, although the figures might have been distorted by the timing of Easter, the ONS said.

The biggest fall in job adverts was in the human resources and recruitment category.