Michelle Bunker from WGP wants to see a reduction in employer's National Insurance contributions
Some businesses are calling for the costs of employing staff to be brought down in the Budget on Wednesday.
A publisher from Tavistock, Devon, said he was "holding back" from filling two new positions at his firm because of the cost of taking on new employees.
At the Devon Business Show some firms said they had been struggling for the past two years to deal with the increases in employers' National Insurance contributions introduced in 2024, while also coping with increases in the National Minimum Wage.
Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first Budget on Wednesday but has refused to rule out tax increases after acknowledging government borrowing costs are at "historic highs".