Grim omen of a jobs apocalypse to come

A RECRUITMENT drive to double the number of job centre staff to 27,000 in the coming months is a chilling augury of the sheer scale of the economic shock heading our way.

A Daily Mail analysis today reveals that 200,000 jobs have already been lost since lockdown. But that’s just the beginning of the predicted jobs apocalypse.

Two studies in recent days suggested that by next year unemployment could almost treble from its pre-Covid level of 3.9 per cent – putting an extra two million or more on the dole. The misery this would inflict is incalculable.

Likely outcomes would be tumbling tax receipts, interest rate rises to support a weakened pound, spiralling welfare bills, ballooning consumer debt, negative equity and mortgage default.

It’s against this bleak backdrop that Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivers his miniBudget on Wednesday.

Right now, the polls show he’s easily the most popular politician in Britain. And of course he has been a steady hand on the tiller. But so far all he’s done is give money away in the form of furlough pay, grants and state-backed loans. his real test is just about to begin.

Through a combination of employer tax breaks, apprenticeship schemes, support for viable businesses in short-term distress and possibly a VAT cut to stimulate spending he must defibrillate our comatose economy and help get the country back to work.

‘Super Saturday’ showed us that people have few health fears about going to pubs and restaurants again. They must now be encouraged to show the same enthusiasm about returning to work.

And Mr Sunak must do all in his power to ensure they still have jobs to go to.