Overview
- At a Resolution Foundation event, UK chief Ashwin Prasad said millions are being kept out of work and urged ministers to ease regulatory and hiring cost pressures.
- He argued businesses have a moral duty to help people back into jobs and called for bolder government action rather than “tinkering at the edges.”
- Recent data put unemployment at 5.1 percent, a four-year high, with the Bank of England forecasting it could rise further to around 5.3 percent.
- Reports cited 2.8 million people out of the labour force due to long-term ill health and nearly one million young people outside both work and education, with a separate inquiry led by Alan Milburn.
- Tesco, which employs about 300,000 people, warned that higher employer costs such as national insurance and minimum wage increases are constraining hiring.