Responding to the latest labour market figures from the ONS published this morning, Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation said:
“There are few surprises in today’s data, and we know that tackling rising unemployment will be a national priority over the next few months. But news in the past week - of progress on a vaccine and in the extension of support packages - should mean businesses have more confidence to retain people and bring on new staff than they had a couple of weeks ago.
“Nevertheless, we are in a tough spot with redundancies hitting a record a record 314,000 in the three months to September. The focus needs to be on measures that will help employers retain staff and create new jobs, starting with a sensible approach to tax. Reducing employers National Insurance contributions, the biggest tax on business, will help struggling businesses retain jobs while encouraging those which need extra capacity to hire more staff.
“We now have 50 days until the Brexit transition period ends. The restarting of negotiations is promising but every effort must be made now to secure a deal that ensures businesses can continue to trade, especially in services which makes up 80% of our economy."
