November 10, local time, the National Bureau of Statistics released the latest data. Affected by Coronavirus Pandemic, the unemployment rate in the UK rose to 4.8% from July to September 2020, which is 0.7% higher than the previous quarter. Compared with the same period last year, it was 0.9% higher, the highest level since November 2016.
Data show that between July and September, 1.62 million people are expected to be unemployed. The number of unemployed people increased by 318,000 over the same period last year and 243,000 more than the previous quarter, the largest increase since May 2009. During the same period, the number of layoffs was even higher, reaching a record 314,000, indicating that Coronavirus Pandemic continued to deal a heavy blow to the job market.
In addition, data from the National Bureau of Statistics also show that the number of unemployed people aged 16 to 24 has increased significantly, and the unemployment rate of young people is much higher than the overall unemployment rate, reaching 14.6%.
In response to the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the economy, the British government began to implement a “compulsory vacation” plan for employees in March, that is, the government and companies share part of the employees’ wages during the “vacation” period. This plan originally ended at the end of October. Some economists said that corporate employers cut jobs before the end of expected vacation plans.
On November 5, local time, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rich Sunak announced the extension of this “mandatory vacation” plan until the end of March 2021. Some analysts said that this extension is “too late” and that the unemployment rate in the UK may rise sharply in the next few months.
