ZCZC
BCN-04
HEALTH-VIRUS-BRITAIN-UNEMPLOYMENT-ECONOMY
UK unemployment edges up to 5.1% on pandemic fallout
LONDON, Feb 23, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Britain’s unemployment rate edged up to 5.1
percent in the final quarter of 2020, official data showed on Tuesday, as
coronavirus lockdowns slashed economic activity.
The rate compared with 5.0 percent in the three months to the end of
November, which was a 4.5-year high, the Office for National Statistics said
in a statement.
Analysts expect unemployment to surge when the UK government’s furlough
scheme paying the bulk of wages for millions of private-sector workers comes
to a stop — as currently planned — at the end of April.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday hinted at further employment
support in the coming months as England begins to exit its third lockdown
form early March.
Details are expected to come in his annual budget next week.
“I know how incredibly tough the past year has been for everyone and every
job lost is a personal tragedy,” the chancellor of the exchequer said in a
statement.
“That’s why throughout the crisis, my focus has been on doing everything we
can to protect jobs and livelihoods.
“At the budget next week I will set out the next stage of our plan for jobs
and the support we’ll provide through the remainder of the pandemic and our
recovery.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday set out a four-step plan to
ease coronavirus restrictions, expressing hope that life could get back to
normal by the end of June.
In a statement to parliament, he outlined a “gradual and cautious” approach
to lifting curbs in England, starting with the reopening of schools from
March 8 and non-essential retail from April 12.
The ONS on Tuesday added that at 5.1 percent, the unemployment rate was 1.3
percentage points higher compared with the final quarter of 2019.
The number of payroll employees tumbled by 726,000 between February and
January 2021, it said.
“The rise in the unemployment rate… to 5.1 percent in December is another
step up on the climb towards the 6.5-percent peak we expect by the end of the
year,” noted Thomas Pugh, economist at Capital Economics research group.
“But with the end of Covid-19 restrictions now in sight, the jobless rate
may be back at 4.0 percent in 2023,” he added.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1414 hrs