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UK Unemployment Rises to 4.3% Amid Job Tax Concerns

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  • Unemployment Increase: UK jobless rate jumps to 4.3% in three months to September, up from 4% in August
  • Wage Growth Drops: Average earnings growth slows to 4.8%, the lowest in over two years
  • National Insurance Impact: Concerns over recent job tax changes affecting businesses

The UK’s unemployment rate has risen to 4.3%, marking the highest level since May, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Average earnings growth also dipped to 4.8% in the three months to September, the slowest pace since June 2022. After accounting for inflation, pay growth remains positive at 2.7%.

The increase in National Insurance contributions announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves has drawn criticism from various sectors. Liberal Democrat spokesperson Daisy Cooper voiced concerns about the additional financial pressures on businesses, particularly smaller ones, stating, “The Government’s job tax could make it even harder for small businesses to hire and give pay rises. This just isn’t fair.”

ONS director Liz McKeown highlighted that "growth in pay excluding bonuses eased again this month to its lowest rate in over two years," emphasising the ongoing economic strain. The unemployment rate increase and payroll decline are raising questions about the broader impact of recent job tax adjustments.

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BonzoBanana

Sales taxes should rise to control what level of imports we have, this way you can avoid taxing essential items like food, energy, housing etc but focus on reducing the level of imports of other items like cars, electronics etc. The poor spend most of their money on housing, food and energy a lot of the time so we want to make those more affordable but punish those who do damage to the economy with frequent car purchases, foreign holidays etc. Surely everyone knows that taxing businesses more makes them less competitive and makes it harder for them to employ the same number of people. This shows to me Labour (like the Conservatives) are clueless about the economy. We need to drive down costs for businesses to make them more competitive and increase costs to importers etc.

I was glad to see the back of the Tories but expected Labour to be useless running the economy and sadly that has come true. I still say they are no worse than the Tories though. I was hoping for some new taxes to add costs to online sellers like Amazon which was hinted at to help restore the high street and as far as I know they have done nothing at all. So no surprise companies like Homebase have now gone to the wall. They may have been holding on in the hope of Labour doing something but all they did was add huge additional costs to Homebase's costs.

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