Car maker Jaguar Land Rover has revealed plans to axe up to 500 management jobs in the UK. The firm has said the roles will be axed through a voluntary redundancy programme.
The job cuts will impact around 1.5% of its UK workforce. It comes after Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by Tata, revealed last week that its retail sales fell 15.1% in the three months to June.
The company was impacted after it temporarily paused car exports to the US in April following the tariffs launched by Donald Trump, while it also wound-down older Jaguar models.
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A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said: “As part of normal business practice, we regularly offer eligible employees the opportunity to leave JLR through limited voluntary redundancy programmes.”
It comes as new figures released this morning show the rate of unemployment in the UK has hit its highest level for four years. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate of UK unemployment increased to 4.7% in the three months to May, up from 4.6% in three months to April.
Economists had predicted that the jobless rate would remain at 4.6% for the month. Meanwhile, average earnings growth, excluding bonuses, slowed to 5% in the period to May to its lowest level for almost three years.
This was higher than the 4.9% predicted by economists. ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “The labour market continues to weaken, with the number of employees on payroll falling again, though revised tax data shows the decline in recent months is less pronounced than previously estimated.
“Pay growth fell again in both cash and real terms, but both measures remain relatively strong by historic standards. The number of job vacancies is still falling and has now been dropping continuously for three years.”
GDP (gross domestic product) shrunk by 0.1% in May, following a 0.3% fall in April. Most economists had expected the economy to rebound with slight growth of 0.1% in May.
The economy could now be heading for a contraction overall in the second quarter of the year, which would be a blow to Rachel Reeves and her key priority to drive economic growth. Ms Reeves said the figures were “disappointing” but renewed her pledge to boost economic growth.
She said: “Getting more money in people’s pockets is my number one mission. While today’s figures are disappointing, I am determined to kickstart economic growth and deliver on that promise.”
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