How does Malaysia plan to address mismatch between graduates and jobs? HR minister says first step is a wage benchmarkBritain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves poses with the red budget box outside her office on Downing Street in London, Britain October 30, 2024. Britain’s biggest retailers have written to finance minister Rachel Reeves to warn her that last month’s budget will make both higher prices and job losses a certainty and dent investment.
The letter, coordinated by the British Retail Consortium trade body and signed by 79 retail bosses, including those at Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Next, Asda, Morrisons, Kingfisher, Amazon UK and Boots, called for a meeting with Reeves to discuss their concerns and work on a solution. The Labour government’s October 30 budget statement raised employers’ National Insurance, or social security, contributions by 1.
“It will not be possible to absorb such significant cost increases over such a short time scale. The effect will be to increase inflation, slow pay growth, cause shop closures, and reduce jobs, especially at the entry level,” it said.