The boss of JD Sports Fashion has warned Rachel Reeves that any further employment cost hikes in her upcoming budget would make Britain less competitive and prevent younger shoppers from spending.
Régis Schultz, the retailer’s chief executive, said that the chancellor must not further increase staff expenses, having raised employment costs in her budget last year, which he said had created “tension around unemployment”.
“We’re starting to see unemployment going in the wrong direction and that is really worrying, especially for us, because the young customer is the first one to be impacted,” he told The Times.
“That is our plea. Don’t increase the cost of labour. Make sure that we keep competitive, keep the UK competitive in the world and make sure that we don’t increase the cost of our labour because that will have a really bad impact on the global economy.”
JD Sports said it expected a limited impact from US tariffs this year
