Surge in job hunters as firms hit by tax rises opt to 'wait and see'

The number of people hunting for jobs in Britain increased in June at the fastest rate since the height of the Covid pandemic, industry figures show, amid growing business fears over tax rises and the economic outlook.

- Richard Partington

The snapshot from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the accountancy firm KPMG showed that the number of new candidates looking for work rose at the sharpest rate since November 2020, when the UK entered the second nationwide lockdown.

The trade body for Britain's recruitment industry blamed the "scar tissue" left by tax rises introduced in April by the government, including a £25bn increase in employer national insurance contributions (NICs).

In a survey of 400 UK recruitment and employment consultancies, the REC found that permanent placements dropped at the fastest pace in 22 months, alongside weaker levels of pay growth and reports of redundancies and reduced appetite for staff.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is under pressure to reboot Britain's economy after output unexpectedly shrank for a second consecutive month in May, fuelled by a downturn in construction and manufacturing.