Experts fear unemployment in U.K. will hit ’90s levels

British economy is 10% smaller than it was at the end of 2019, despite recent summer rebound

LONDON— Unemployment in the U.K. spiked higher in August, a clear sign that the jobless rate is heading toward levels not seen in 30 years as a government salary-support program ends this month and new local restrictions are imposed to suppress a resurgence of the coronavirus.

The Office for National Statistics said Tuesday that unemployment rose by 1138,000 in the three months to August f from the previous three-month period. The unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 per cent, its highest rate since early 2017, from 4.1per cent in the previous quarter.

Though unemployment has been edging up during the pandemic, with the likes of British Airways, Royal Mail and Rolls-Royce all laying off thousands, Britain has been spared the surge in unemployment seen in the United States. The British economy endured one of the deepest recessions in the spring and while it has rebounded in the past few months, it is still about 10 per cent smaller than it was at the end of 2019.

The main reason why unemployment has not spiked sharply higher has been ttthe government’s Coronavirus Job Re- tention Scheme, which has paid most of the salaries of workers who have not been fired. Some 1.2 million employers have taken advantage of the program to furlough 9.6 million people at a cost to the government of nearly £40 billion ($ 68 billion).

At one stage, around 30 per cent of the U.K.’s working population was on fur

lough. Although they weren’t working

oover counted the past as unemployed. few months, they were not

Since the program ends at the end of October, many of those still on furlough are expected to be made redundant and unemployment to rise further.

Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, told an economics committee of the House of Lords that the pandemic will lead to “persistent unemployment” because some businesses just “cannot survive” in a world of lockdowns and restrictions. Further headwinds to the economy have emerged in recent weeks with the resurgence in the virus and the government’s tightening of local restrictions. As a result,1 there are concerns that unemployment could soar towards three million, levels not seen since the early 1990s. On Monday, the government carved England into three tiers of coronavirus risk in a bid to slow the outbreak, putting the northern city of Liverpool into the highest-risk category and shutting its pubs, gyms and betting shops. To ease the economic hit, the government will pay two thirds of the salaries of workers in companies that have to close. Leaders across the north of England and unions have said the new package is unacceptable because it is not as generous as the national scheme and does not cover workers who are affected indirectly by new restrictions. “Wage replacement should be 80 per cent for businesses who have to shut,” said Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the umbrella Trades Union Congress. “We need a more generous short-time scheme for firms which aren’t required to close but will be hit by stricter local restrictions, and self-employed people in local lockdown areas need help, too.”