Jobs Market: Wider Economic Implications

Lord Hunt of Wirral Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Hunt of Wirral]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the jobs market, and of the implications for the wider economy.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Sherlock) (Lab)]

My Lords, there is positive information in the labour market. The claimant count is falling. Over 350,000 more people have moved into work this year. Real wages have risen more since July last year than they did in the first 10 years of the previous Government, and UK growth is forecast to be the second fastest in the G7 after only the United States. However, the latest figures also highlight the challenges and the importance of our Get Britain Working plan, which includes creating a new jobs and careers service, tackling economic inactivity due to ill health and delivering our youth guarantee.

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

The Minister omitted to mention that unemployment has now risen to 1,830,000 and, perhaps most chilling of all, that the number of young people without the dignity of work has risen to 735,000. Do the Government now accept that the triple blow of the jobs tax in last year’s Budget, the increased income tax levels in this year’s Budget and the unemployment Act, which received Royal Assent earlier today, have all contributed to the fact that unemployment is rising to 2 million people? What is she going to do about it?