Next PLC (LSE:NXT) boss Lord Wolfson has warned that the rise in National Insurance contributions for business from April would hit the retail sector particularly hard with the impact largely being felt on entry-level jobs.
Calling on the government to stagger the tax changes, rather than introduce them fully in April, the clothing retailer's CEO said without that change jobs or hours would have to be cut.
The Conservative peer said employers with large numbers of lower-paid or part-time workers would be hit hardest with Next's wage bill set to rise by £70 million.
Wolfson (pictured) urged the government to lower the NI threshold over time, rather than the few months' notice employers got in October's Budget.
An increase in tax on a £60,000-a-year job was around 2%, but the increase for a part-time living wage worker was around 6.5%, he told the BBC.
"So the axe has fallen particularly hard on those entry-level, National Living Wage jobs, and that's where the pain is going to be felt the most."
"My worry is that it's going to be harder and harder for people to enter the workforce," he said.
"It's very difficult to see how such a big increase in the cost of entry-level work is going to result in anything other than a reduction in the number of opportunities available."
"Government did need to raise taxes. I've got nothing against lowering the threshold for NI in principle but the speed at which it is going to happen, the lack of consultation, that is the problem."
Lord Wolfson also said he had concerns as well about the new employee rights legislation designed to protect staff from unfair dismissal and "exploitative" contracts.
"We offer staff extra hours in the run-up to Christmas. If the legislation is going to mean that those hours have to be contractually binding forever then we just won't be able to do it at all, it would be impossible," said Wolfson.