UK businesses cut jobs at fastest pace in four years over summer, Bank of England finds
UK businesses cut jobs at the fastest pace in four years over the summer, according to a Bank of England survey highlighting the impact from tax rises on employers,The monthly snapshot from a survey of chief financial officers at British businesses of all sizes showed firms reduced employment by an annual rate of 0,5% in the three months to August, the fastest since 2021,There was also a marked decline from the previous month in firms’ employment intentions for the coming year,Expectations for jobs growth weakened by 0.
3 percentage points to 0.2%.Labour has come under pressure over its economic management as the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, prepares to hold a late November budget, amid speculation that further tax increases could be required to cover a multibillion-pound shortfall in the public finances.Business leaders have warned Reeves that her first autumn budget measure to increase employer national insurance contributions (NICs) by £25bn from April this year has forced them to cut jobs and raise prices.Almost half of the 2,130 companies surveyed by the Bank said they were cutting the number of employees as a result of the change.
The monthly Decision Maker Panel survey, which is closely monitored by Threadneedle Street’s interest rate-setters, also showed 66% of firms reported lowering profit margins as a result of the change.As many as 34% raised prices, while 20% said they were paying lower wages than they otherwise would have done.However, the Bank said fewer firms were reporting price increases, lower employment or lower wages in response to the employer NICs changes than it had expected in the three months to January, before the changes were implemented.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionEconomists said falling employment levels were a risk the Bank would take into account when considering whether to cut interest rates at its next policy meeting on 18 September.Financial markets anticipate the Bank will keep borrowing costs unchanged at 4%.
“Stubborn wage and price pressures should keep the MPC [monetary policy committee] cautious, but falling employment is a building risk,” said Rob Wood, the chief UK economist at the consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics.Reeves acknowledged on Wednesday that the UK economy was “not working well enough for working people” as she announced the date of her second budget as 26 November.The later than usual date is likely to lead to weeks of speculation about how the Treasury will raise additional revenue, but the chancellor hopes to use the time to set out new pro-growth reforms.
Google Pixel 10 review: the new benchmark for a standard flagship phone
Google’s new cheapest Pixel 10 has been upgraded with more cameras, a faster chip and some quality software that has brought it out of the shadow of its pricier Pro siblings to set a new standard of what you should expect from a base-model flagship phone.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The regular Pixel 10 costs £799 (€899/$799/A$1,349) – the same as last year’s Pixel 9 – undercutting the 10 Pro by £200 and matching rivals from Samsung and Apple while offering more for your money
‘Slap on the wrist’: critics decry weak penalties on Google after landmark monopoly trial
A judge ruled on Tuesday that Google would not be forced to sell its Chrome browser or the Android operating system, saving the tech giant from the most severe penalties sought by the US government. The same judge had ruled in favor of US prosecutors nearly a year ago, finding that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly with its namesake search engine.Groups critical of Google’s dominance in the internet search and online advertising industry are furious. They contend the judge missed an opportunity to enact meaningful change in an industry that has suffocated under the crushing weight of its heaviest player. Tech industry groups and investors, by contrast, are thrilled
Juliet Congreve obituary
My mother, Juliet Congreve, who has died aged 76, was a pioneer in library automation and later had a successful university teaching career specialising in human-computer interaction. For most of her professional life, she worked at Middlesex University.In the early 1980s, at Middlesex, she introduced one of the first uses of email in a UK university, enabling librarians to support inter-library loans. She quickly noticed colleagues using it to share updates, ideas and build community – not just to speed up book requests. She led the transition from paper index cards to an electronic catalogue – a complex operation across six university sites and diverse disciplines, including teacher training, art, law and engineering
Google will not be forced to sell Chrome, federal judge rules
Google will not be forced to sell its Chrome browser, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday in the tech giant’s ongoing legal battle over being ruled a monopoly last year.The company will be barred from certain exclusive deals with device makers and must share data from its search engine with competitors, the judge ruled.Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling follows months of speculation surrounding what penalties Google would face as a result of his decision last year that the company violated antitrust laws as it built what he called an online search monopoly. The ruling, one of the most significant antitrust cases in decades, resulted in an additional hearing in April to determine what actions the government should take as a remedy.Mehta’s decision to allow Google to keep Chrome represents a more lenient outcome for the company than what federal prosecutors requested: force the tech giant sell off its marquee search product and to ban it from entering the browser market for five years
Trump fortune balloons by billions after family firm’s crypto token starts trading
The Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, put its namesake digital tokens up for sale on Monday, adding some $5bn in paper value to Donald Trump’s family fortune. The token, known as $WLFI, fell in value on Monday in their first day of trading.The World Liberty tokens were sold to investors after the Trump family and its business partners last year launched the venture, a decentralized finance platform that has also issued a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency meant to maintain a specific price by tying its value to a specific asset.Investors in the tokens voted in July to make them tradable, paving the way for their sale and purchase – and potentially boosting the value of the president’s holdings of them.Early investors can sell up to 20% of their holdings, World Liberty has said
Parents could get alerts if children show acute distress while using ChatGPT
Parents could be alerted if their teenagers show acute distress while talking with ChatGPT, amid child safety concerns as more young people turn to AI chatbots for support and advice.The alerts are part of new protections for children using ChatGPT to be rolled out in the next month by OpenAI, which was last week sued by the family of a boy who took his own life after allegedly receiving “months of encouragement” from the system.Other new safeguards will include parents being able to link their accounts to those of their teenagers and controlling how the AI model responds to their child with “age-appropriate model behaviour rules”. But internet safety campaigners said the steps did not go far enough and AI chatbots should not be on the market before they are deemed safe for young people.Adam Raine, 16, from California, killed himself in April after discussing a method of suicide with ChatGPT
Want wines with attitude? Look to the Jura
Back to school, work, reality: what to eat now summer is over
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for potatoes, onions and green beans | A kitchen in Rome
Sweeteners can harm cognitive health equivalent to 1.6 years of ageing, study finds
Berries are back! Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for September
Cheap, healthy, sustainable and delicious – why mussels are a no-brainer