UK economy loses 819,000 jobs to pandemic

Saeed Pourreza

Press TV, London

Britons woke up to more worrying news this December morning; 819,000 fewer workers out of paid employment in November than at the start of the health crisis meaning coronavirus continues to weigh heavily on the UK labor market.

Is this the impact from the coronavirus? Released by the Office for National Statistics, the report also says there’s been a record rise in redundancies in the three months to October, 370,000 of them. Worst hit, those in the hospitality sector, teetering during the pandemic. The government says its measures are necessary for beating the virus.

Old lady and that old geezer named Shakespeare getting the covid jab While the prospect of a functioning vaccine has injected some optimism into people’s lives, experts say the next few months are likely to remain very challenging.

Are we looking at unemployment rising in the coming months? Add to the mix, the immediate impact of a no-deal Brexit: the UK leaving the European Union without a trade deal at of this month. There’s also the fact that unemployment figures don’t tell the whole story, there’s a lag in the data and the government Job Retention Scheme extended till March, is propping up the labor market for now.

In November, the UK chancellor warned number of unemployed people in the country was expected to surge to 2.6 million by the middle of next year, and that maybe a conservative figure. The fact is that covid-19 is here to stay, and it’ll be months if not longer for everyone to be vaccinated. The unforgiving equation is at the tighter measures to protect lives, the more devastating the impact on livelihoods.

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