The UK unemployment rate has risen to 4.9 per cent in the three months to October, a rise of 0.1 per cent from the previous period
The office of National Statistics said that the number of people on the UK’s payrolls has fallen by 819,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic.
The number of redundancies reached a record high in August to October 2020 although the weekly data show that while the level remains high there was a slight decrease in October.
Job vacancies in September to November were up 110,000 on the previous three months, though still well below pre-pandemic levels
ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said redundancies had begun to ease in October, but this was before the second lockdown in England.
Overall we have seen a continuation of recent trends, with a further weakening in the labour market,” he said.
“The latest monthly tax numbers show over 800,000 fewer employees on the payroll in November than in February, with new analysis finding that over a third of this fall came from the hospitality sector.”
Rebecca McDonald, senior economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said:
“Today’s figures paint a deeply worrying picture, with redundancies hitting record levels for the second month in a row. Throughout the pandemic unemployment has risen most in sectors with high levels of low pay, like hospitality – the economic fallout from the virus is being shouldered by our poorest workers. This just isn’t right.
“This economic crisis has a long way to run. Yet the Chancellor is still planning to reverse the £20 a week increase to Universal Credit at the end of March – despite the OBR forecasting unemployment to peak in the Spring. Whipping away this lifeline from families who are already struggling will pull many further into poverty and risk our economic recovery. The Chancellor must now do the right thing and commit to maintaining the Universal Credit uplift at the earliest opportunity, as well as extending the same support to those on legacy benefits.”
Responding to the latest figures, which show 3.026m jobs in retail, down 22K year-on-year, Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, said:
“Despite strong job creation in parts of the industry where demand remained high, including supermarkets and online retail, the pandemic forced retail job numbers to their lowest number in over nine years. The Government’s furlough scheme had been effective in preventing job losses in the previous quarter, but the industry still shed 78K jobs between June and September this year. We expect these will losses were focused on areas which were suffering the most from the pandemic, such as fashion stores and city centre shopping.
“The future remains bleak. The pandemic has already seen multiple retailers fall by the wayside, costing shops and jobs, and retailers face further costs in 2021 from both Brexit and the return to full business rates. The combined impact of Covid, Brexit and business rates is likely to significantly impact retail employment in the future. Retail employs three million people, and even small percentage changes in employment can translate into hundreds of thousands of jobs. The Government should look to provide continued targeted support to those firms most heavily impacted by the pandemic. By supporting retailers in their return to full health, the industry will be better positioned to bolster the country’s economic recovery.”
Matthew Percival, CBI Director of People and Skills, said:
“Another bleak set of figures this month, with a steep rise in unemployment and more redundancies showing households were still being hit hard, even ahead of England’s second national lockdown.
“While news of a vaccine has provided hope, many firms are still finding it difficult to operate within the toughest Covid restrictions.
“With millions more expected to be living under the toughest tier before the end of the week, the Government must continue to do what it can to help businesses get through winter.”
