UK job losses hit decade-high, worse seen ahead

By William Schomberg and David Milliken

 

FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past an employment agency "ExtraStaff" in North London, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain June 16, 2020. REUTERS/John Sibley

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of people in work in Britain has suffered the biggest drop since 2009 and signs are growing that the coronavirus will take a heavier toll on the labour market as the government winds down its huge job-protection scheme.

 

Led by a record plunge in the self-employed, 220,000 fewer people were working in the three months through June, official figures showed on Tuesday.

 

Separate tax data for July showed that the number of staff on company payrolls had fallen by 730,000 since March, sounding the alarm about a potentially much bigger rise in joblessness.

 

Mounting job losses are expected as Britain winds down its job-retention scheme, which has covered around one in three private-sector jobs. It is due to close at the end of October.

 

"A real concern is that this is just the first wave of bad news for the jobs market," said Gerwyn Davies, senior labour market adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

 

"The fact that reduced hiring rather than increased firing of permanent staff is the main cause of the jobs slowdown to date bodes ill for the coming months if more employers turn to redundancies as a last resort."

 

Finance minister Rishi Sunak said the government's support programmes were working but job losses were inevitable.

 

"I've always been clear that we can't protect every job, but ... we have a clear plan to protect, support and create jobs to ensure that nobody is left without hope," he said.

 

A string of companies plan layoffs, ranging from British Airways <ICAG.L> and London's Evening Standard newspaper to retailers WH Smith <SMWH.L> and Selfridges.

 

The unemployment rate unexpectedly held at 3.9%. But that reflected more people who had given up looking for work and therefore were not considered unemployed, and 300,000 people who said they were working but getting no pay, the Office for National Statistics said.

 

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the unemployment rate to rise to 4.2%. Last week, the Bank of England forecast the jobless rate would hit 7.5% at the end of this year.

 

BoE Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden told The Times the central bank still had "significant headroom" to ramp up its huge bond-buying stimulus programme again if needed.

 

The ONS is expected to announce on Wednesday that Britain's economy has fallen into a recession with a 21% slump in the size of the economy in the second quarter.

 

Tuesday's figures showed the number of self-employed people fell by a record amount in the three months to June, led by older workers. The number of employees rose - something the ONS said was partly accounted for by workers reclassifying themselves as employed.

 

The number of people claiming universal credit - a benefit for those on low pay as well as the unemployed - rose to 2.689 million in July, leaping by 117% from March.

 

Pay fell by the most in more than 10 years in the April-June period, down 1.2%, reflecting how workers on the job retention scheme receive 80% of their salary. Excluding bonuses, pay fell for the first time since records began in 2001.

 

However, there was a small increase in job vacancies in the three months to July as small businesses took on staff to meet coronavirus guidelines, the ONS said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-08-11

 

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8 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

However, there was a small increase in job vacancies in the three months to July as small businesses took on staff to meet coronavirus guidelines, the ONS said.

 Temporary, minimum wage, part time or zero hours contracts. 

 

Full time vacancies are few and far between; even for the skilled, highly qualified and/or experienced. 

29 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

 Temporary, minimum wage, part time or zero hours contracts. 

 

Full time vacancies are few and far between; even for the skilled, highly qualified and/or experienced. 

All part of the master-plan.

It's only going to get worse with the fools governing the UK. 30 baht to the pound coming soon.

1 hour ago, 7by7 said:

 Temporary, minimum wage, part time or zero hours contracts. 

 

Full time vacancies are few and far between; even for the skilled, highly qualified and/or experienced. 

right

assuming that what you say is reasonably close to the reality;

 

the interesting Quiz is; how much of this is

Brexit related, will it improve or the opposite or stay as is after the BRINO Brexit step has been taken?

Corona virus related?

dump in World economy related?

 

 

Edited August 11, 20205 yr by melvinmelvin
typo

12 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

right

assuming that what you say is reasonably close to the reality;

 

the interesting Quiz is; how much of this is

Brexit related, will it improve or the opposite or stay as is after the BRINO Brexit step has been taken?

Corona virus related?

dump in World economy related?

 

 

With covid the government were handed a 'get out of jail free' card, pick up the blame for everything for years to come.

For example, loss of protected names will be the result of business being shut down by covid rather than trade deals.

 

The number of people claiming universal credit - a benefit for those on low pay as well as the unemployed - rose to 2.689 million in July, leaping by 117% from March. 

 

Thats the really shocking thing.

Those who are on zero hour contracts and getting no work but are not actually listed as unemployed.

Employment would have been much better if the UK/US trade agreement can be concluded. The Trump promise of putting the trade agreement in the front as carrot for Brexit is now grounded. He didn’t kept his promise. US is easily the biggest U.K. export market and the trade agreement would benefit the agriculture and car industry and provide employment. Boris should smartened up with Trump. 

4 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Employment would have been much better if the UK/US trade agreement can be concluded. The Trump promise of putting the trade agreement in the front as carrot for Brexit is now grounded. He didn’t kept his promise. US is easily the biggest U.K. export market and the trade agreement would benefit the agriculture and car industry and provide employment. Boris should smartened up with Trump. 

The EU is the UK's biggest market.

Any deal with the USA will require access for American healthcare to the NHS.

Not popular with Brits.

Still the Brexiteers knew this and went ahead and voted as they did.

7 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

The number of people claiming universal credit - a benefit for those on low pay as well as the unemployed - rose to 2.689 million in July, leaping by 117% from March. 

 

Thats the really shocking thing.

Those who are on zero hour contracts and getting no work but are not actually listed as unemployed.

all down to the delays in leaving the eu,a big thank you to gina miller and her mob who didn,t want to accept democracy.

Just now, Rookiescot said:

The EU is the UK's biggest market.

Any deal with the USA will require access for American healthcare to the NHS.

Not popular with Brits.

Still the Brexiteers knew this and went ahead and voted as they did.

the eu Were the biggest market,it won,tbe soon

Just now, kingdong said:

the eu Were the biggest market,it won,tbe soon

At last something we can agree on.

2 minutes ago, kingdong said:

all down to the delays in leaving the eu,a big thank you to gina miller and her mob who didn,t want to accept democracy.

Gina Miller caused corona virus?

8 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

The number of people claiming universal credit - a benefit for those on low pay as well as the unemployed - rose to 2.689 million in July, leaping by 117% from March. 

 

Thats the really shocking thing.

Those who are on zero hour contracts and getting no work but are not actually listed as unemployed.

Absolutely - the headline figure (3.9% of the workforce unemployed) has barely budged since the start of the pandemic because it only counts people out of work and actively looking for a job. But we know that there are 730k+ fewer people on employers' payrolls so the figures will accelerate as the gov. support schemes are wound down and the winter months set in. 

11 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

The number of people claiming universal credit - a benefit for those on low pay as well as the unemployed - rose to 2.689 million in July, leaping by 117% from March. 

 

Thats the really shocking thing.

Those who are on zero hour contracts and getting no work but are not actually listed as unemployed.

a big thank you to freedom of movement creating a surplus of labour allowing this sorry state of affairs

Just now, Rookiescot said:

Gina Miller caused corona virus?

donald wheres your troosers?

13 hours ago, SteveK said:

It's only going to get worse with the fools governing the UK. 30 baht to the pound coming soon.

That assumes that the Thai baht won't be further devalued as the economic situation worsens! 

4 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

At last something we can agree on.

theres a whole world out there once we,re free of the shackles of the eu the world will be our oyster

10 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

The EU is the UK's biggest market.

Any deal with the USA will require access for American healthcare to the NHS.

Not popular with Brits.

Still the Brexiteers knew this and went ahead and voted as they did.

NHS was not on the table for the trade agreement negotiation according to this article. 
https://fullfact.org/election-2019/nhs-docs-fake-quote/

2 minutes ago, kingdong said:

theres a whole world out there once we,re free of the shackles of the eu the world will be our oyster

And where are these mystical markets to be found?

We were already trading with the world when we were in the EU.

 

3 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

NHS was not on the table for the trade agreement negotiation according to this article. 
https://fullfact.org/election-2019/nhs-docs-fake-quote/

But, chlorinated chicken and hormone filled beef is.......

13 hours ago, SteveK said:

It's only going to get worse with the fools governing the UK. 30 baht to the pound coming soon.

and you think it would have been any better if corbyn had got in? would have been 15 baht =£1,lucky all the armchair socialists realised this and their  butt cheeks puckered on election day.

3 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

NHS was not on the table for the trade agreement negotiation according to this article. 
https://fullfact.org/election-2019/nhs-docs-fake-quote/

No your link details how a quote doing the rounds on twitter fake.

It actually states in your link " They do cite US negotiators bringing up the issue of pharmaceutical patents and drug pricing, though they do not give an indication of the extent to which UK negotiators agreed with the US position."

23 minutes ago, KarenBravo said:

But, chlorinated chicken and hormone filled beef is.......

No one is making you buy it. Up to the supermarkets what to stock based on consumer demand.

Off-topic post and replies reported and removed.   Please stay on topic.  

 

the new excuse to start with day contracts at slave labor wages

Brexiteers should not be too concerned about the EU, they wanted out, they are out 

and what the EU is doing is no longer their business.

They rather concentrate on what's next and what Scotland and Ireland are going to

chose where they want to do business with!

 

  "I drink to make other people more interesting"  Ernest Hemingway  

 those big trade deals Boris is bragging about. 0.5% increase in GDP for the so-called big US trade deal and 0.07% increase for the Japanese deal. 

2 hours ago, jadee said:

That assumes that the Thai baht won't be further devalued as the economic situation worsens! 

Well the Thai Central Bank has announced yesterday that it will not intervene to block a stronger Baht.

5 hours ago, sandyf said:

With covid the government were handed a 'get out of jail free' card, pick up the blame for everything for years to come.

For example, loss of protected names will be the result of business being shut down by covid rather than trade deals.

 

as we say in Norway,

nothing is so bad that it ain't good for something . . .