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At least 150,000 jobs have now been cut or put at risk at more than 60 major British employers during lockdown. The pace of redundancies has picked up in recent weeks as companies try to figure out if they can afford to take back furloughed staff. Nearly 17,000 potential job losses have been announced so far this month, compared to just over 14,000 at the same point in June. Overall, around 75,000 job losses were announced last month. The Office for National Statistics has suggested that 600,000 UK workers lost their job in May alone, while vacancies slumped to a record low. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned this week that the UK’s unemployment rate could hit as high as 14.8 per cent. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in April was around 25 per cent below the level recorded in February. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that the global economy will contract by 4.9 per cent in 2020, having previously expected growth of 3.3 per cent in its January forecast. World Bank analysis suggests this will be the deepest global recession since the Second World War and the broadest collapse in per capita incomes since at least 1870. Covid-19 has led to a substantial reduction in consumption, the largest component of the UK economy. Retail sales were 23 per cent lower in April than in February and social consumption, typically worth around a fifth of total consumption, had fallen by around 80 per cent at its lowest point. Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s first round of coronavirus interventions cost the Treasury more than £130bn to respond directly to the virus and preserve the economy as it was. Measures announced on Wednesday added £30bn to the bill. Employers who bring staff back from furlough will receive a £1,000 bonus in a bid to try and stave off more redundancies. More than nine million jobs have been furloughed through the Job Retention Scheme.