Economic optimism continues to rise, with business confidence levels in the UK reaching a new high since 2015.

A survey released on Monday showed that as businesses became more optimistic about the economic outlook, the confidence level of UK employers reached a new high in nine years this month. The Lloyds Bank Business Barometer, which rose sharply by 11 percentage points in May, continued to rise by one percentage point in June, reaching 51%, the highest level since November 2015. At the same time, the economic optimism index in the survey reached a high point in 10 months, rising by another percentage point compared to last month, after a significant jump of 16 percentage points in May. Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said that the increase in hiring intentions with 60% of businesses expecting to increase staff in the next year indicates that businesses are starting to prepare for future growth. The Bank of England is currently closely monitoring the UK's job market to assess the extent of inflation pressure in the economy. Bank of England Governor Bailey stated last week that he observed a slowdown in the labor market, partly due to the tax increases imposed by the government on employers since April. However, the survey by Lloyds showed that wage growth expectations rose for the second consecutive month, with 36% of respondents predicting that average salary growth will reach or exceed 3%. Another set of data released by job site Adzuna showed that the number of job vacancies in the UK in May slightly decreased from April, but increased by 0.5% compared to the same period last year, marking the third consecutive month of year-on-year growth after over a year of decline. Adzuna co-founder Andrew Hunter said, "The data for May reinforces signs that the UK labor market is gradually stabilizing." Nevertheless, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) stated that although businesses' expectations for the economy in the next three months have eased from the pessimistic sentiment in May, overall sentiment remains weak after experiencing increases in employer tax burdens and geopolitical instability. CBI Chief Economist Alpesh Paleja pointed out, "Businesses are still dealing with higher labor costs, cautious consumer spending behavior, and rising global uncertainty."