UK unemployment rises to 5%, the highest level in four years
Unemployment in the UK has risen by more than expected to the highest level in four years, official figures show, amid a worsening slowdown in the jobs market before Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget,With under three weeks to go before the chancellor’s tax and spending statement, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the headline unemployment rate rose to 5,0% in the three months to the end of September, up from 4,8% in the previous quarter,City economists had forecast an increase to 4.
9%.Representing an increase in unemployment to 1.8 million, the official jobless rate was last higher in January 2021, during the height of the Covid pandemic.Suren Thiru, the economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said: “These figures suggest that the UK’s labour market is suffering from pre-budget jitters, as businesses already weakened by April’s rise in national insurance look to cut recruitment further in anticipation of another difficult budget.”Concerns over the strength of the jobs market prompted City investors to bet that the Bank of England would be more likely to cut interest rates at its next policy meeting in December.
The pound fell by 0,3% against the US dollar, while the odds of a post-budget cut in borrowing costs increased from about 60% to 75%,Threadneedle Street kept rates on hold last week, but opened the door to a cut from as early as next month after signalling that inflation had peaked amid a slowdown in the economy,Reeves is expected to raise taxes in the budget on 26 November to plug a shortfall in the public finances of up to £30bn,However, the chancellor has been warned that doing so could hit jobs and growth in a repeat of her first autumn budget.
Business leaders have warned Reeves’s £25bn rise in employer national insurance contributions and increase in the national living wage from April has led to job cuts and sapped hiring demand, hitting part-time employment and jobs in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors in particular.Martin Beck, the chief economist at WPI Strategy, said: “The prospect of new tax rises in the upcoming budget poses further risks to employment, particularly if the chancellor again looks to raise taxes on businesses.But this time, Rachel Reeves is more likely to target earners rather than employers.”Ministers have grown increasingly alarmed over the jobs market slowdown – including a dramatic increase in youth unemployment, amid a jump in the number of young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) to almost 1 million, the highest level in a decade.The government this week appointed the former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn to lead an independent review of the role of mental health issues and disability in youth unemployment.
A separate review by the former boss of John Lewis, Charlie Mayfield, warned last week that young adults were one of the key cohorts affected by an “economic inactivity crisis” hitting Britain,The Bank warned last week that unemployment could push further above 5% next year, in a development with potential to cool inflationary pressures by making it harder for workers to bargain for higher wages and for businesses to raise their prices,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 promotionWhile the ONS’s figures are based on its widely criticised labour force survey, which has suffered from collapsing response rates, separate data suggests the jobs market has slowed sharply,Figures from HMRC published on Tuesday showed the number of workers on company payrolls fell by 180,000 in the year to October, and by 32,000 compared with September,Job vacancies were broadly flat in the three months to October, but the figure was down by 99,000 from a year earlier.
Over the past year, the biggest falls in payrolled employment were in the wholesale and retail, accommodation and food services, and IT sectors.Highlighting the worsening slowdown in the jobs market, annual growth in average weekly earnings dropped by more than expected to 4.8%.City economists had forecast an unchanged reading of 5%.The secretary of state for work and pensions, Pat McFadden, said: “Over 329,000 more people have moved into work this year already, but today’s figures are exactly why we’re stepping up our plan to get Britain working.
“We’ve introduced the most ambitious employment reforms in a generation to modernise job centres, expand youth hubs and tackle ill-health through stronger partnerships with employers.”
Parents the most likely source of abuse on Australia’s sporting fields, new study finds
Facing abuse, bullying, racism and even inappropriate sexual advances, the plight of Australia’s coaches has shocked even the researchers behind the first major national survey into positive sporting behaviours.More than one in six coaches have directly experienced verbal abuse in the past 12 months, and two in five have witnessed it, according to the first annual results from the Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) Positive Behaviours in Sport Study, and parents were responsible almost half the time (47%).Of the survey of 325 mostly grassroots coaches, more than one in 10 experienced bullying, and almost as many reported separate instances of either racism, discrimination, physical abuse or inappropriate sexual behaviour.Alexis Cooper, acting head of sport engagement at SIA, said the results surprised her, particularly given the importance of coaches within the sport ecosystem and that they are largely volunteers.“When you look at that abuse of coaches, it has a range of flow-on consequences for everyone else,” she said
Your Party row erupts over hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations
The feud between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana over the future of the leftwing Your Party has taken another twist with the two camps arguing publicly over hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations.Sultana offered to transfer £600,000 from a company the party’s founders set up earlier this year, only to be rebuffed by allies of Corbyn who accused her of playing “political games” with supporters’ money.The latest row comes after months of acrimony between the two former Labour MPs as they jostle to be the figurehead of what they hope will be a new force on the populist left. The tussle for power is likely to come to a head in the new year when the party holds a formal leadership contest.The latest row centres on hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of donations and fees received by MOU Operations Ltd, a company set up earlier this year while the details of Your Party were being thrashed out
Rising unemployment could affect budget, interest rates, pay and more
There are significant implications from the latest unemployment figures showing a rise from 4.8% in August to 5.0% in September, not least for the 1.8 million people it directly affects.Rachel Reeves will be mulling over how to avoid depressing the economy and putting even more people out of work while raising tens of billions of pounds in extra tax in her upcoming budget
Maybe the BBC can learn a thing or two about fake news from Trump | John Crace
You have to admire the chutzpah. The cheek of it. Donald Trump describing the BBC as “corrupt” while threatening to take legal action. Karoline Leavitt, The Donald’s White House mouthpiece, calling the BBC “100% fake news”. The man has never been known for his self-awareness so it’s safe to say the irony has almost certainly passed him by
How to make the perfect beer cheese soup – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …
Beer and cheese, two ingredients that don’t immediately scream soup to much of the world, are the cornerstones of one such midwestern speciality, particularly beloved in Wisconsin, with its prominent dairy and brewing industries. Beer soups are also found from Alsace to Russia (and, indeed, Wisconsin has a significant northern European heritage population). The cheese, however, appears to be an inspired American addition (though, seeing as Germany boasts both beer and cheese soups, I’m prepared to stand corrected), playing off the bittersweetness of the beer to produce a richly flavoured dish that’s perfectly suited to harsh midwestern winters. That said, it’s a treat on a cold day wherever you are.(Note: this is not to be confused with German obatzda, while a thicker version is a popular hot dip in Kentucky, in particular
Lilibet’s, London W1: ‘Pure joy, high drama, camp as heck’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
My new favourite restaurantUntil last week, Punk Royale was easily the strangest restaurant I’ve been to all year. “We’re all wacky here!” cried those Scandinavian punks with pans, as covered in my review here a month or so ago. But they’ve already been usurped by a spot in a repurposed office block less than half a mile away.The fabulously bizarre Lilibet’s opened her doors with little or no fanfare in mid-September, beckoning us into her world of strange. Behold the antique fireplaces, the floral chairs and wallpaper, the multitude of gilt-framed, 18th-century French paintings, the pretty etched glassware, the monogrammed napkins, the tall dinner candles
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