JOB losses are “coming to the fore” and will have a major impact on the economy, according to entrepreneurs Lord Willie Haughey and Sir Tom Hunter.

Highlighting recent redundancies at global companies such as Microsoft and Google, Lord Haughey said: “It’s going to be interesting to see where this goes and I think it’s going to have a major impact on the economy. It’s really coming to the fore and we’re led to believe that there green shoots and stability in relation to inflation and interest rates.

“But I think the next six months are going to be very stormy.”

Microsoft last week said that it will cut 10,000 jobs in the latest round of staff redundancies to hit the tech industry, affecting up to 5 per cent of its global workforce, while Google’s parent company Alphabet will cut 12,000 jobs.

Sir Tom noted that these were both big tech firms that recruited heavily during the pandemic but were now “putting the brakes on”, adding: “I think the great hiring spree for all sorts of works is over.”

Turning to the subject of working from home, he said: “It depends what sector you are in if working from home works for your business and employees.”

Both Covid and Brexit had led to huge changes in the way people work with many still continuing to work from home and companies across a range of sectors struggling to recruit staff since the UK left the EU.

Referring to last week’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Lord Haughey noted: “Experts there were saying that anyone who thinks that Brexit has not had an effect on the economic situation in the UK is off their head.

“There are experts across Europe who are saying that once the dust settles we will see how bad an idea Brexit was.”