Reeves’s tax rises on employers start to bite as unemployment jumps

Effects of chancellor's measures evident as companies reduce hiring and push down on wage growth

• UK unemployment rises to highest in nearly four years
• Business live - latest updates

For the past few months, the true impact of Labour's increases in labour costs has been clouded by a fog of contradictory data, but the latest jobs figures suggest that murkiness could be beginning to clear.

Those who feared the rise in employers' national insurance contributions (NICs) would lead to job losses are being proved right. The unemployment rate climbed by 0.2 percentage points to 4.5% between January and March - the highest level for nearly four years.