Minimum wage hikes leading to unemployment
Retailers have called for a fundamental review of the minimum wage, following figures released today showing that unemployment rose by 92,000 to 1.68 million between April and June.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that the UK unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent for the three-month period - up 0.3 per cent from the previous quarter and 0.7 per cent compared with a year ago. Average earnings rose 4.5 per cent for the year to June, or 0.2 per cent a month.

A British Retail Consortium (BRC) National Minimum Wage survey found that last year's minimum wage hike cost the industry£1 billion and a further increase in October is set to cost the same and lead to further retail job losses.

BRC director-general Kevin Hawkins said: 'That kind of money can't be found year after year without detriment to business. With other costs also shooting up, it's no surprise that a quarter of retailers say they are likely to cut staffing costs, which may include some jobs.'

The BRC has urged the Low Pay Commission to carry out a thorough evaluation to define what the ultimate goal for the minimum wage is.

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