Jaguar Land Rover to axe 500 management jobs
Jaguar Land Rover is to axe up to 500 management jobs in the UK through a voluntary redundancy programme.
The automotive giant said that around 1.5 per cent of its UK workforce would be impacted by the job cuts.
A spokesperson for the Tata-owned firm said: “As part of normal business practice, we regularly offer eligible employees the opportunity to leave JLR through limited voluntary redundancy programmes.”
It comes after JLR revealed last week that retail sales plunged 15.1 per cent in the three months to June after a temporary pause in exports to the US and the planned wind-down of older Jaguar models.
The company said the significant fall in sales was partly driven by the pause in shipments to the US in April after US President Donald Trump’s administration introduced new tariff plans.
A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover added: “JLR regularly offers eligible employees voluntary redundancy programmes.
“Through this limited UK VR programme for managers, JLR is aligning its leadership workforce for the business’s current and future needs.
“We are grateful to the government for delivering at speed the new UK-US trade deal, which gives us the confidence to invest £3.5bn per annum to realise our strategy which is delivering.”
Jaguar Land Rover cuts jobs as unemployment spikes to four-year high
The news comes on the same morning as new figures revealed that Britain’s jobless rate has reached its highest level for four years, as workers also faced another slowdown in wage growth
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate of UK unemployment increased to 4.7 per cent in the three months to May, from 4.6 per cent in the three months to April.
It said this marked the highest level since June 2021.
Meanwhile, average earnings growth, excluding bonuses, slowed to 5 per cent in the period to May to its lowest level for almost three years.
The figures point towards further pressure in the UK labour market, days after the governor of the Bank of England warned that the Bank is prepared to make larger interest rate cuts if it sees that the job market slowing.
It also comes amid a backdrop of recent weakness in the economy, with UK GDP (gross domestic product) shrinking in both April and May.
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.”
The rise in unemployment is worse than economists had expected, having predicted that the jobless rate would remain at 4.6 per cent for the month.
Nevertheless, average wage growth was slightly higher than the 4.9 per cent predicted by economists.
But the rate of wage growth was still the weakest figure since the three months to June 2022 and represents a drop from a revised level of 5.3 per cent in the three months to April.
Wage growth continues to outstrip inflation, reflecting a rise of 1.8 per cent after taking Consumer Prices Index inflation into account.
Pressure in the labour market for the three months to May comes as firms swallowed significant increases in national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage in April.
Firms have also been impacted by intensifying economic uncertainty after US President Donald Trump launched a new tariff regime in April, leading to heightened global trade tensions.
The figures also showed job vacancies in the UK fell by 56,000 to 727,000 in the three months to June, compared with the previous quarter.