The Tories should be shouting from the rooftops!

Forget all the dire predictions that Britain’s stumbling departure from the European Union is bound to cost the nation jobs.

The opposite is true. Britain is creating more and more jobs, increasing numbers of workers are moving from less well paid part-time work into fulltime employment and the number of vacancies is surging.

In the three months ending in May 137,000 people joined the workforce.

This is a remarkable increase on the (weather-affected) 55,000 rise in the previous three months and annual employment growth is rising at a healthy clip of 1. per cent.

Indeed, the unemployment rate currently stands at just 4. per cent of the workforce – the lowest level since the 1970s and precisely half that of our partners in the European Union.

What is curious is that amid all the political wrangling over the terms of Brexit at Westminster, firms up and down the country remain confident enough to invest in a larger workforce.

If they were really battening down the hatches, because of dire fears of what lies ahead, they certainly would not be increasing the headcount and adding to their cost base as if there were no tomorrow.

In the last year alone the march of the makers has led to the creation of more than 50,000 new jobs and the widely reported optimism means this powerful trend should continue.

Britain’s instinctive embrace of the digital economy is also helping, despite the thousands of jobs that are being lost on the High Street as traditional department stores, such as those run by House of Fraser, close their doors.

The corollary of that is a new wave of digital retailers is expanding exponentially. Information industries and communications are one of the fastest growing sectors for jobs and an area where the UK has real competitive advantage.

E-commerce brings with it more traditional service jobs evidenced by the Ocado and Royal Mail delivery vans clogging up our streets along with the new warehouse and logistics jobs which help bring the goods to our doorsteps.

No-one should be surprised to learn that, with an expanding and ageing population, health care and social work are adding jobs more quickly than almost any other part of the economy. This trend is forecast to continue.

The mystery around all of this is that the remarkable pick-up in the number of jobs has not been accompanied by a similar rise in wage growth.

Headline average earnings increased by .5 per cent in May, just staying ahead of inflation.

But with more people in work, households are generally better off and there are more consumers with money in their pockets.

Britain is reaping the rich benefits of Thatcherite labour market reforms.

Tory politicians should be shouting this success from the rooftops as it shows a robust confidence among employers about the nation’s future.