U.K. Worker Shortage, Czech Hike, China PMI Contraction: Eco Day

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Welcome to Thursday, Europe. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• More U.K. firms are citing a shortage of workers as a concern for the months ahead, two separate surveys show. The U.K. is scrapping two pandemic-era safety net programs that pumped more than $100 billion into the economy, which critics say will leave more working families in poverty and widen inequality
• The Czech central bank is set to raise interest rates by the most in two dozen years in its decision Thursday
• Activity at Chinese factories contracted in September for the first time since the pandemic began, showing the extra hit to the slowing economy from a widespread electricity crunch
• Amid the global run-up in commodity prices, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde and others renewed their bets that the inflation surge is temporary
• A drop in Japanese output and retailing shows the breadth of damage from the delta variant. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda downplayed crisis risks emanating from China’s troubled property market, saying it’s not like what Japan experienced in the 1980s
• The U.S. and EU are pledging cooperation on trade and technology at an inaugural meeting in Pittsburgh for a new group of officials from the two sides
• About 70% of jobless American women over 40 years of age are long-term unemployed, according to a study conducted in June and published this week

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