The country has spent years talking about the cost-of-living crisis.
asserted
country → spend → crisis
The obsession is such that it has its own irritating Gen Z slang label, Cozzie Livs, which is not only annoying but also trivialises a serious problem.
asserted
which → have → problem
In Wednesday’s Budget, Chancellor John Healey should pay more attention to the cost-of-hiring crisis (please no one call it Cozzie Hires).
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one → pay → it
The two are linked: people need to earn in order to maintain a decent standard of living and bosses need the confidence and the cash to employ them.
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bosses → link → them
Latest figures on the jobs market show the deadening impact of Labour policies, in particular a collapse in vacancies at small businesses with fewer than ten staff.
asserted
figures → show → staff
Advertised openings at these firms are down by nearly a third in a year, a stomach-lurching drop.
asserted
openings → lurch → drop
Higher costs have prompted a surge in unemployment and the young are most vulnerable
Rachel
asserted
young → prompt → unemployment
Reeves’s 2024 Budget made it more expensive to employ people due to hikes to national insurance and the minimum wage.
asserted
it → make → insurance
Labour is also ushering in workers’ rights reforms that are making employers very nervous.
asserted
employers → usher → reforms
The number of employees on payrolls has fallen by 111,000 in the year to August alone.
asserted
number → fall → August
In human terms this equates to a permanent loss of opportunity.
asserted
this → equate → opportunity
For the economy it means lost productivity, growth and tax revenues that could have paid for public services.
uncertain
that → mean → services
The cost-of-hiring is a major component of a wider cost-of-doing-business crisis.
asserted
cost → do → crisis
Costs imposed by government policy on a typical small firm have risen by more than 70 per cent in a decade, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.
uncertain
Costs → impose → Commerce
A quarter of the increase has come since that notorious Budget of autumn 2024.
asserted
quarter → come → autumn
The Government claims it is helping employers ‘unlock over 200,000 paid jobs for young people’, whatever that means.
uncertain
that → claim → whatever
And no one seems even to be thinking about the nearly 3.4m people aged 50 to 64 who have fallen out of the jobs market.
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who → seem → market
Former Labour minister Alan Milburn could, when he produces his much-anticipated report on young NEETs after the Budget, recommend incentives for employers.
uncertain
he → produce → employers
That would go down badly with the Left wing, so he probably won’t.
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he → go → wing
Ominously, Marc Bolland, the former M&S boss drafted in by the Government to spearhead a drive to get young people into work, warns that if employers do not hire NEETs, they will end up paying even more tax in future.
asserted
they → draft → future
Yet no amount of threats can make a firm take on staff it cannot afford.
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it → make → staff
Barclays is axing 5,000 jobs worldwide because AI is a cheaper and less troublesome option than its human staff, who recently rebelled against attempts to curb working from home.
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who → ax → home
The Government’s increase in gaming taxes prompted betting giant Flutter to cull 1,400 jobs in the UK and Ireland.
asserted
increase → prompt → UK
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds declared on Friday, apropos new anti-red tape measures, that staff at a baker’s should be filling pasties, not forms.
Quite so, but tell that to employees at Greggs, where 740 bakery and supply-chain roles are at risk.
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roles → declare → risk
The national debt has just surpassed £3trillion and interest rates are likely to go up.
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rates → surpass → 3trillion
The answer to this is not to pile more taxes on to employers.
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answer → pile → employers
What is needed is discipline on government spending, coupled with judicious cuts to business and employment taxes to give firms the confidence to hire and invest.
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needed → need → confidence
The Budget is an opportunity for Healey to repair some of the damage.
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Healey → repair → damage
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uncertain
is → take → commission
These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting.
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they → choose → team
This does not affect our editorial independence.
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This → affect → independence
The Aporia
