Data from the Bank of England has reported the UK jobs market is enduring the longest period of job cuts since the last months of the pandemic in 2021.

The figures show a continued decline since July of last year, correlating closely with the introduction of increased Employer NICs and a 6.7 percent rise in the minimum wage.

“The data will reinforce concerns that the labour market has been weakened by government policy over the past year, with the official rate of unemployment up to 5.2 percent in the latest three months for which data is available, compared with 4.4 percent in the previous year,” reported hospitality trade journal Propel.

According to the data, those aged between 16 and 24 have been disproportionately affected by the downturn, with the unemployment rate for this age group reaching 16.1 percent, the highest recorded since 2015.

“On a single-month basis in February, businesses told the Bank of England that there was a 0.7 percent average reduction in the size of their workforce over the past year, larger than the 0.3 percent drop in the previous month.”

“On average, businesses said that they planned to raise prices by 3.3 percent in the coming year, down from 3.4 percent.”