More than 80 major UK retail CEOs told Prime Minister Keir Starmer that rising employment costs are choking entry-level hiring and worsening youth unemployment.
The British Retail Consortium said higher National Insurance, years of above-inflation National Living Wage rises and tighter employment rules are pricing retailers out of taking on young workers.
Alan Milburn’s interim review warned 1.25 million under-25s could be unemployed within five years, adding urgency to the industry’s call for action.
Retailers said the sector provides almost a quarter of youth employment but has already lost 400,000 jobs over the past decade, putting a key route into work at risk.
The letter asks for a joint government-retail taskforce, lower costs for employing young people and skills and employment reforms that protect entry-level recruitment.