Cynon Valley

Jobless rate soars to highest level for four years

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BRITAIN’S jobless rate has soared to its highest level for more than four years as official figures showed nearly 830,000 workers have been dropped from UK payrolls since the start of the pandemic.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the unemployme­nt rate reached 5% in the three months to November for the first time since early 2016 after another 202,000 people lost their jobs.

Figures for December also showed there were 828,000 fewer Britons on company payrolls since before the crisis struck last February as the pandemic has hammered the jobs market.

Experts warned that there would be further pain to come after the latest lockdown rips through the labour market.

The gloomy unemployme­nt figures come despite signs that the Government’s move to extend the furlough scheme to April has helped cushion the blow.

The number of payroll employees nudged up by 0.2% between November and December, with employment also falling at its slowest pace since March, down 88,000 at 32.5 million.

But there was little cheer in the data as the claimant count, which includes people working with low income and hours as well as people who are not working, edged up by 0.3% in December to 2.6 million.

The redundancy rate hit another record high, up 168,000 between September and November to 395,000, though it dropped slightly from a peak in September.

The early recovery in vacancies seen in the summer also slowed, with around 81,000 between October and December at 578,000 half the level of growth in the previous three months.

Business leaders reiterated calls to UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend support measures further to help sectors on life support during the lockdown, such as the hospitalit­y industry and high street.

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