London suffers most job losses after tax hikes

London is bearing the brunt of the UK's jobs slowdown as a combination of tax rises, elevated wage costs and weak consumer spending force the city's business to cut payrolls faster than in the rest of the country.

The capital has shed almost 45,000 payrolls since October when the Labour government announced a £26 billion ($35 billion) hike in employers' national insurance-a payroll tax-and a new higher minimum wage, according to tax data.

It means one in four of all job losses across the country have come in the UK's most productive region. Combined with the surrounding South East region, the rate rises to nearly four in 10 lost jobs.

Retail and hospitality are among the worst-affected sectors, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics earlier in the week, and a large share of these roles are based in London-business group UKHospitality says about a third of jobs in its sector are in the capital.

Keeping pubs and restaurants going is increasingly difficult, according to Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality's CEO. She said London was the least competitive city in Europe in terms of taxes and other costs and has lost around 30,000 hospitality jobs over the last year.

"The rent is higher, the business rates are higher, the wage costs are higher, and we are not seeing enough money coming through the front door to be able to cover those costs and for businesses to remain viable," Nicholls said.

Separate data from Indeed - a jobs website - confirmed that vacancies in London have dropped faster than the national average since October. Retail and hospitality job ads in the capital fell almost 40% over that period, compared with declines of 26% and 9%, respectively, recorded across the country.

Public v private
GDP data on Thursday showed the UK growing at a faster rate than other G7 countries, but most of the boost came from government spending, while consumers are still reluctant to splash out.