Covid-19 crisis has cost ‘city of hope’ 8,000 jobs
THE mayor of Bristol has pledged to work with trade unions and businesses to protect existing jobs, build skills and create employment opportunities in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an address to the city, Marvin Rees said that Bristol’s economy had at least 8,000 fewer jobs now than at the start of the pandemic.
From March to August this year, the city’s unemployment rate has more than doubled to 4.5 per cent and more than 70,000 people in the city have been furloughed. Unemployment was highest among 16-25-year-olds, with 44 per cent of eligible employees in that age group put on the Government’s job retention scheme.
According to Mr Rees, there has been a 40 per cent reduction in civil aerospace orders and jobs in the city, while the retail industry in Bristol is expected to cut 1,600 jobs this year.
Mr Rees said: “We anticipate inequality widening. It is the most vulnerable and working people who will take the biggest hit from the downturn.
“And it is they who will be least well placed to benefit from any economic upturn when it comes.
“Hardship will be particularly pronounced in lower super output areas in neighbourhoods from Hartcliffe to Hillfields, from Lawrence Hill to Lockleaze and Lawrence Weston.”
A recent survey by chambers of commerce Business West showed that 37 per cent of companies were looking to reduce labour costs, even with the help of the Government’s job retention scheme, and only six per cent were recruiting compared to 15.7 per cent at the same time last year. The survey found 78 per cent of workers in the accommodation and food services sectors were furloughed; 72 per cent in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector; 63 per cent in construction; and 42 per cent in the wholesale, retail and motor trades sectors.
The mayor also pointed out that 10,000 workers in Bristol are employed in the creative and cultural industries, with 70 per cent on furlough and at risk of losing their job.
Average combined weekly loss of incomes across the city’s cultural organisations range between £315,000 and £375,000, according to Mr Rees, who said many organisations would have exhausted unrestricted reserves by the end of autumn.
The combined economic impact on Bristol’s museums is more than £35 million lost this year, he added.
Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of festival and event organisers in the city have been forced to cancel planned events in 2020. Some 42 of the large outdoor and indoor festival, and live events, which responded to the survey, identified a £5 million loss due to cancellations and a further £6.5 million impact on the wider supply chain.
Mr Rees called on Bristol to “come together” and to “come to terms” with the fact the Covid-19 would continue to be part of people’s lives for the “foreseeable future”.
He said: “We must learn to adapt to the new normals; we will need to design and build Covid-secure environments and learn and adopt covid safe behaviours.”
Mr Rees announced that Bristol had developed an economic renewal strategy focusing on keeping people in work and creating paths to employment.
“We will build recovery but we will be alive to the risk of a dash for growth subjecting us to a growth strategy that is values free,” he said.
“We cannot afford that. We need to build back with our values, to deliver a new normal that has inclusion and sustainability at its core. We need to plan and build our future against the likelihood of future shocks, while reducing the contribution we make to the likelihood of future shocks.
“That is why we have put the economic recovery strategy, climate strategy and the ecological strategy at the heart of our planning.”
He added: “I want to reflect once more on our commitment to be a city of hope.”