Lockdown | UK employment plummets by 600,000

Whilst preliminary data estimated that mass redundancy would be a damaging consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, the latest report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has discovered that more than 600,000 people were struck from payrolls between the months of March and May of this year.

The redundancies, largely the consequence of the UK’s move to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus that has swept across the world this year, stemmed from widespread economic inactivity and the inability for many sectors to trade through the lockdown period.

Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance claims jumped by a total of 23.3% between April and May to over 2.8million applicants, whilst the claimant count has now increased by a total of 125.9%, or 1.6million, since the start of March – or when the UK officially entered a lockdown period.

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