The number of people out of work in the UK is continuing to rise, putting those aged 25-34 most at risk.
“In the three months to November, people in that age group had a redundancy rate of 16.2 per 1,000, a fivefold increase on the same period a year earlier.
Unemployment rose to 5% from 4.9% as Covid continued to hit the jobs market.
Some 1.72 million were jobless, the Office for National Statistics said, the highest level in five years.
That was 418,000 more than in the same period the previous year, the biggest increase since late 2009.” – BBC NEWS.
It goes without saying the hospitality sector is by far the worst hit since the beginning of the pandemic, followed by the manufacturing industry. As it stands there are currently over 50,000 more individuals from these industries without employment compared to the year before.
The following analysis was made by Faisal Islam, the Economics Editor – BBC News:
What does this mean for the economy?
“While the main rate of unemployment has reached 5% for the first time in nearly five years, and this morning’s numbers saw the largest increase in the numbers unemployed since the financial crisis, the chancellor must now be tempted to extend the furlough scheme to co-ordinate with the rollout of the post-vaccination reopening of the economy.
There are some bad numbers in this release, as would be expected from the pandemic restrictions, but they were expected to be a little worse. In the quarter to November, there were 418,000 extra unemployed over the same period in 2019 – the sharpest annual rise since the 2009 financial crisis.
The rate of redundancies reached a record of 14 per 1,000 people. Loss of jobs was concentrated in sectors such as retail and hospitality, most affected by social restrictions, which were reintroduced at the end of the period. Young people also faced the sharpest drops in employment. The jobs numbers are yet to reflect the current return to national lockdowns.
Though a significant rise over the past few pandemic-afflicted months, unemployment at 5% is still low by international standards and is being kept in check by the government’s job retention furlough scheme. The current plan is to end the costly scheme in April, which economists expect would see a sharp jump in jobless figures to 6% or 7%.
But as the government continues to communicate caution about how fast restrictions on the economy will be lifted, business groups are adamant that the scheme needs to be extended into the early summer, or at least linked to the success of the vaccination programme.”