ONS | Unemployment rises to 1.35million in three-month period

According to data revealed in the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) report, the coronavirus’ toll on the jobs market has had an extreme effect.

The report, which was released today, revealed that unemployment within the UK rose by a shocking 50,000 to 1.35million in the three-month period leading to March 2020.

This is despite employment hitting a record high before COVID-19 arrived on UK shores. The UK employment rate in the three months to March 2020 was estimated at a joint-high of 76.6%, 0.6% higher than a year earlier and 0.2% up on the previous quarter.

As a result, the total number of weekly hours worked in the three months to March 2020 was 1,040.6million, 12.4million hours less than the previous year.