LONDON, June 16 — UK jobless claims more than doubled at the height of Britain’s coronavirus outbreak, official data showed today. Claims surged 126 per cent to 2.8 million people in the three months to May, coinciding with a strict nationwide lockdown that shut shops and businesses, Office for...
People walk in an office in the financial centre of Canary Wharf in London, Britain March 6, 2020. — Reuters pic
Claims surged 126 per cent to 2.8 million people in the three months to May, coinciding with a strict nationwide lockdown that shut shops and businesses, Office for National Statistics figures revealed. Britain’s lockdown was imposed on March 23, when the UK government also launched a “furlough” jobs retention scheme under which it pays the bulk of wages.The ONS today added that the unemployment rate — or the proportion of the workforce that is unemployed — was flat at 3.9 per cent in the three months to April, not far from a 45-year low.
“The government’s furlough scheme is massaging the numbers,” City Index economist Fiona Cincotta told AFP.
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