The number of UK workers on payrolls fell by 695,000 between March and August due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Office for National Statistics said as the unemployment rate reaches 4.1 per cent, its highest level for two years.
The figures show that those aged between 16-24 saw the biggest drop in employment compared to other age groups.
“Arts, entertainment and recreation” is the sector that has struggled the most during the pandemic, with vacancies in August 2020 around 75% less than in February 2020.
“Mining and quarrying” has also struggled during the pandemic with further decreases from May to August. The decline has been driven by low gas and oil prices impacting businesses.
Construction” and “transport and storage” are showing signs of recovery, with quarterly increases in vacancies of 4,000 and 3,000 respectively
Human health and social work activities” remains the largest sector in terms of both vacancy level (112,000) and ratio (2.7) and accounts for 25.8% of all vacancies
