Britain's labor market is holding steady, with employment rates largely unchanged and real wages still growing. Unemployment ticked up slightly on the year but actually fell over the latest quarter, showing stabilization. With 24 months of continuous growth, six interest rate cuts and 456,000 children lifted out of poverty, the economic direction is clearly positive.
Britain has shed 210,000 payrolled employees in a year, youth unemployment has hit 16% and vacancies have fallen to their lowest since 2021 — all under Labour's watch. Hiking National Insurance and business rates has made hiring unaffordable, as Whitbread's 3,800 job cuts make painfully clear. Taxing jobs while expanding the state is gutting the real economy and workers are bearing the cost.
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