The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in the UK soared to 2.1 million in April, the first full month of the coronavirus lockdown.
The total in April jumped by 856,500, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Before the lockdown began, employment had hit a record high.
The benefit claimant count does not include everyone who is out of work, since not all can claim assistance, but it does indicate the trend.
In another indication of the bleak employment landscape, the number of job vacancies fell by nearly a quarter to 637,000 in the three months to April.
Meanwhile, claims for universal credit – the benefit for working-age people in the UK – hit a record monthly level in the early weeks of lockdown.
But the labour market is set to worsen, according to politicians and analysts, with Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, telling the BBC on Tuesday that the unemployment rate was likely “to increase significantly”.
According to separate research by the Resolution Foundation, young people are most likely to have lost work or seen their income drop because of the coronavirus pandemic.
More than one in three 18 to 24-year-olds is earning less than before the outbreak, the research indicated.
It said younger workers risk their pay being affected for years, while older staff may end up involuntarily retired.
Separate ONS figures showed UK unemployment rose by 50,000 to 1.35 million in the three months to March.
The unemployment rate was estimated at 3.9%, slightly down on the previous quarter, the ONS said.
The jobless figures only cover the first week of the lockdown and they are expected to worsen sharply in the coming months.
Jagjit Chadha, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, told the BBC: “We can reasonably expect unemployment to rise very quickly to something over 10% – something we haven’t seen since the early 1990s.”
Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “Even before lockdown, coronavirus was threatening to take the shine off the UK’s sterling jobs record, and initial estimates for April don’t make for easy reading.
“It’s clear that, without the government’s furlough scheme, the picture would have rapidly deteriorated even further.”
“It’s almost been a blessing in disguise. I was stuck in the same role for a number of years, but now I can work for myself and hopefully secure a better future for my family,” says Jay Lee.
The 32-year-old from Surrey recently lost his job at a large UK bank as a mortgage adviser, where he also helped customers with fraud investigations.
Jay then decided to take the plunge and set up a business, uAcademy, which offers online courses for aspiring mortgage advisers.
“It’s something I had been thinking about doing for a year or two, and this gave me a push to do it. I suddenly had a lot of free time, so I managed to set everything up and create the content in about two weeks.”
Source: bbc.com
