📉📊Unemployment up to 5.2% — the highest since January 2021.
Youth unemployment at an 11-year high.
134,000 jobs gone.
Private sector pay growth crawling at a five-year low.
Public sector pay still comfortably elevated.
And somewhere in Westminster, someone is probably still calling this “progress.”
Another first for Labour. Just maybe not the sort you frame and hang in the party conference hall. 🖼️
🔄 Recalculating… The Economy Just Took a U-Turn
The ONS points to weak hiring. Employers cite higher taxes. The Tories warn of a “jobless generation.”
And young people? They’re refreshing job boards like it’s a competitive sport. 🖥️
You can almost hear the HR departments sighing:
“Would love to hire… but have you seen the payroll bill?”
Meanwhile, politicians debate economic theory like it’s fantasy football — shifting formations, tweaking lineups, insisting the strategy is solid while the scoreboard tells a different story.
134,000 fewer payrolled staff isn’t a rounding error. It’s a warning light.
Private sector pay growth slowing suggests caution.
Youth unemployment rising suggests something deeper — a pipeline problem.
But here’s the punchline: perhaps Labour should launch a new national employment scheme.
Roundabout Installation Corps. 🚧
If we’re going to keep doing U-turns, we may as well make them safer. Hire thousands of young people to build roundabouts across the country. At least then the backtracking would be properly signposted.
Because right now, policy seems to move forward boldly… before slamming the brakes and spinning back the other way. And when that happens in an economy, it’s not just embarrassing — it’s destabilising.
Young people don’t need clever messaging.
Businesses don’t need motivational speeches.
They need certainty. Stability. Confidence.
And those are harder to build than roundabouts.
🔥 Challenges 🔥
Are we witnessing short-term turbulence… or the early stages of a jobless generation?
Is this tax policy fallout? Global headwinds? Post-pandemic lag? Or political miscalculation?
Take it to the blog comments — not just party slogans. What actually stimulates hiring? What protects young workers? What should change now? 💬
👇 Comment. Like. Share. Let’s debate it properly.
The sharpest insights and boldest arguments will feature in the next issue of the magazine. 📝🔥
Chameleon Magazine 
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