Retailers slash hiring as Rachel Reeves' tax raid hits

By JESSICA CLARK

Updated: 07:44 BST, 27 May 2025

Retailers have drastically cut back on hiring after Rachel Reeves’ tax raid battered the High Street.

Bleak figures today lay bare the impact of the Chancellor’s Budget policies on jobs.

The number of retail vacancies advertised in April tumbled more than 39 per cent compared to a year earlier, research showed.

It came after Labour last month imposed a National Insurance hike on employers, which has been described as a tax on jobs.

The Chancellor also granted an inflation-busting minimum wage increase in October, which came into effect last month.

And retailers are anxiously awaiting Labour’s planned shake-up of employment law, which could raise costs even further.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been criticised for her NI hike on employers

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is pushing her huge overhaul of workers’ rights through Parliament.

Businesses have warned that the proposals, which include expanding the grounds for unfair dismissal and higher sick pay costs, will cause them to hold off hiring.

The shake up would also scrap zero-hours contracts, strengthen flexible working rights and remove some restrictions on trade unions.

The National Insurance and minimum wage changes have already had a huge impact on industries with a high proportion of lower paid workers such as the retail sector.

Other sectors impacted by Reeves’ Budget policies include logistics and warehouses, where vacancies tumbled 21.56 per cent, according to jobs platform Adzuna.

Roles in scientific and quality assurance sectors also took a hit, falling 16.62 per cent compared to a year earlier. And in a blow to university leavers, graduate positions recorded a sharp drop of 7.6 per cent in April compared to the month before, taking the year-on-year fall to 22.8 per cent.

According to the research, the total number of UK job vacancies rose around 1 per cent compared to a year earlier. But the overall figure fell by just under 1 per cent compared to the previous month.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said: ‘After signs of recovery in March, April brought a reminder that this remains a delicate job market.’

It comes after research earlier this month showed that hiring had tumbled to a record low.

A damning report by human resources industry body CIPD showed that the number of employers planning to recruit more staff over the next three months has plummeted.

The group’s overall net employment balance – the difference between employers expecting an increase in hiring and those expecting a decrease – fell from +13 to +8 in the first three months of the year.

That marked a record low – excluding the pandemic – since records began in 2014. Just one in 10 retailers said they were planning to hire staff in the next three months.

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Retailers slash hiring as Rachel Reeves’ tax raid hits

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Retailers slash hiring as Rachel Reeves’ tax raid hits