Labour have ruined the job market

[Needajobforspouse]

My spouse was made redundant in November, has done some bid work since then (e.g zero contract parcel delivery) but not enough to make up his old salary. He has job alerts and this week there was ZERO jobs advertised that meet his qualifications.

Nobody is hiring.

I work for an SME, and I am also at risk and in bad health. Not enough for PIP etc but enough to make me unreliable (recently diagnosed as immunocompromised).

Not even the local supermarket is hiring, and they won’t touch my DH anyway as he is massively over qualified (I know a supermarket manager and they don’t take on over qualified people as they are “hard to manage” and don’t stay long term.).

yesterday our car broke and we used the last of our savings for a new one, my roof is leaking. My bay window is leaking and I just feel like giving up.

just dreading this year of shitty government policies that pick on the middle income earners and penalise us, is this life? Because if so I hate it.

also where are all the jobs?! Literally zero here in northern England.

You are grossly over simplifying the issue.

The businesses were screwed by the catastrophe that was Brexit followed by Liz Truss crashing the economy, not labour. Sorry if that doesn’t fit your narrative.

still, if you want to be even handed, The oil industry was fucked by both Tory and labour but no one has even noticed that. For now.

Your categories are too simplistic, there going to be people that don't have to worry about the impact of any political party on their economic status.

Not really. Personally, I don't feel the need the government to stick it's neb in at every opportunity and fritter away money trying to do so. As a small business owner, I use zero hour contracts because it equally benefits my employees and myself. In 14 years I've always offered a minimum number of hours in a job ad and stuck to it. If other businesses aren't doing this, then it's a them issue rather than a problem with zero hour contacts and they should be quite rightly penalised. I pay National living wage for a 21 + year old even though I mostly employ younger university students and the job description doesn't change because of their younger age! If the Government showed a morsel of commitment to going after the billionaires who willfully evade tax each year I may be more sympathetic (and that doesn't change my opinion if it's Cons or Lab, etc in power).

I assume that's a response to the poster above me as being a small business owner is not really who I was thinking of.

It wasn't specifially direct at you but Cupcakes2035. Still, I'm curious to know your opinion as to what cutoff at what earnings a small business should accept before it should just curl up and die under the current government?

I’m still curious to know which part of the private sector you’re in that is not impacted by R Reeves 10% increased cost on employers per role @Goldenbear. Sorry if I missed your response. Care to elaborate?

100% yes they are… and also reducing hours worked for salaried people to increase £ ph as they can’t afford aprils hike. (And these are businesses with hundreds / thousands of employees.

100% labour plans directly influenced by Labours policy. Absorbing is impossible.

But let’s not confuse ‘landslide victory’ with any actual enthusiasm for their policies. They might have won the election, but that is not the same as having a mandate.

Yanbu. Most employers seem to be blaming the NI increase for rubbish pay rises and recruitment freezes. Mine certainly is.

Quite telling that this is from the Guardian. More bad news for jobs and the economy.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/17/uk-firms-mull-biggest-layoffs-in-a-decade-as-business-confidence-slumps

But if Labour had taken the extra 5% rise in NI from the employee as opposed to the employer then people might have complained about the tax rise but they would still be in a job

Making a company pay just puts people out of work and on benefits and in the long run costs the government more which means more tax rises to pay for what they aren’t getting in when they have already spent the forecasted income based on everyone keeping their jobs

Then how come the jobs market has fallen off a cliff since Labours budget

BuT THe BuDJeT iS FwiiiiiinE. EViL ToRIes and BRexIt.

People don’t seem to understand that a say 10% rise in wages costs isn’t just a 10% cut in profits. It can zeroise profits or cause a loss or complete business failure depending on type of business, expense profile, etc. Some businesses with high staff costs, ie retail and hospitality can be totally wiped out by Rachel’s tax grab.

Or say a children’s hospice…

First, one of the biggest popular misconceptions in economics is thinking that the government needs to “balance the books” like a household. As long as taxation is sufficient to ensure inflation is controlled at an optimum low level such as the Bank of England target of 2% (zero inflation is actually bad for the economy as it doesn’t stimulate growth) that’s fine.

Second, the other big popular misconception is that tax generated by Government is directly proportional to tax rates.

It’s not. If reducing employee’s NI by say, 2%, stimulates the spending and investment in an economy such that real wages and/or employment levels increase, then the amount raised from employee’s NI won’t decrease by 2%, and could even increase! It’s not the “tax rate” that’s important, it’s the “tax take”.

And that’s why the employer NI rise is so dumb…It acts to reduce business confidence and its ability to grow, with an associated depressive impact on the economy which reduces jobs and wages, meaning tax take is actually lower, with taxes that are received needing to be used to pay increased interest rates on Government bonds caused by the weakening economy… so the Treasury gains little or nothing, and causes a whole load of economic pain in the process.

And that’s exactly what’s happening in real time! The “headroom” that Rachel Reeves calculated she’d create from the tax is being eaten up by a weakened economy caused by the tax!

She’s thinking like an accountant not an economist, which is why “Rachel from accounts” is apt, even though I can see how it appears misogynistic.

In short, Rachel Reeves is a disaster… she needs to go, and there needs to be an economic reset at the heart of Government.

Depressing.

Will be interesting to see how the die-hard Rachel fangirls spin that one… My guess is that they won’t even try and we’ve heard the last from them in this thread.

Yes, all of this. It's really not rocket science is it! The government won't even consider a phase in.

I'm sure they'll try! Blame anyone but Labour for Labour policies.

There are loads of jobs. Sign up with an agency and get some temp work then they usually keep you on afterwards

If you're looking for a certain level /role then that may be more problematic
Small businesses don't pay any extra NI if they only have a few employees

I think Kier is in the process of managing her out, given all the bad press around her. And he's known to be pretty ruthless behind the scenes.

As an aside it does annoy me that this is all RR's fault and the mini budget was all Liz Truss' fault. Where are the men in this?! KS is First Lord of the Treasury, after all. If she goes, he should also go.

PS agree with what you say @taxguru 👍