New figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (ONS) show that unemployment rates reach a four-year high.
With redundancy reaching record highs, the UK’s unemployment rate jumped to 4.8% in the three months leading up to September. It’s the highest level since 2016.
ONS said:
“From July to September 2020, an estimated 1.62 million people were unemployed, up 318,000 per year and 243,000 per quarter.
“The annual increase was the largest from December 2009 to February 2010, and the quarterly increase was the largest from March to May 2009. The quarterly increase was mainly for men (an increase of 178,000) and increased across all age groups.”
During the same period, 314,000 people became redundant.
“Redundancy rose to 195,000 between July and September 2020, with a record high of 314,000 meters in the quarter from a record 181,000 to a record high of 314,000m,” ONS said.
“The annual increase was the largest since February to April 2009.”
The sharpest falls were between part-time and self-employed workers. ONS explained:
“If we look closer at the quarterly decline in employment, we see that this is driven by the number of part-time workers (from a quarterly decline of 158,000 people), and self-employed people (174,000-453 million, a record 99,000 women).”
“The quarterly decline was partially offset by an increase in full-time employees, rising 113,000 in the quarter to a record high of 217 million. The increase in full-time employees was driven by women (872 million more than the quarter’s record 165,000), while men fell from 53,000 to 12.45 million, down each quarter, starting in March 2019.
“The rising unemployment rates and redundancy are further evidence that the damage caused to the UK job market is intensifying due to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Sulen Till, economic director of the UK Chamber of Commerce.
“The expansion to the Furlough scheme will protect a significant number of jobs in the short term, but as businesses face another wave of significantly reduced cash flow and revenue, and the gap in government support continues, there is still a much larger rise in unemployment over the coming months.”
