Reeves Taxes Trigger Longest Services Jobs Slump Since Financial Crisis – Guido Fawkes

Reeves Taxes Trigger Longest Services Jobs Slump Since Financial Crisis

mdi-fullscreen

New figures from the S&P Global UK Services PMI show employment levels in the services sector have now fallen for eight consecutive months. The longest streak” since the 2008 financial crash aside from the pandemic…

In May, firms stopped replacing staff leavers, triggering a “sustained downturn” in headcount across the industry. Again, the finger is being firmly pointed at Reeves’ tax raid. S&P Global’s Tim Moore said:

“Reduced workloads and pressure on margins from increased payroll costs meant that headcounts remained under close scrutiny. Aside from the pandemic, the current eight-month period of falling employment numbers is the longest streak since 2008–10. Prevailing demand conditions nonetheless remained challenging in May, as signalled by a sustained reduction in total new orders across the service economy. While rising wages were again the most commonly reported factor pushing up input prices.”

Meanwhile, ministers are busy rolling the pitch for yet more tax rises in autumn to fund a flurry of U-turns, including the reintroduction of winter fuel payments for some pensioners “by winter” and a hike in defence spending. This is what Andrew Bailey was talking about when he said yesterday that the ONS’ positive growth figures are not telling the whole story…