Full scale of Britain's job crisis is revealed

Britain’s job crisis caused by the pandemic is bigger than realised, new data has revealed.

New Centre for Cities’ research in partnership with HSBC UK reveals the economy will need to create almost ten million new private sector jobs just to reverse the damage done by the pandemic.

Analysis of Britain’s ‘jobs miracle’ from 2013 to 2019 showed that 19.3 million private sector jobs were created during this period and 16.6million were lost – meaning that seven new private sector jobs were needed to create one viable job.

Officials say if this pattern repeats post-Covid then 9.4million new private sector jobs will be needed to get the 1.3million people who lost their jobs during the pandemic working again.

Many of the jobs lost in the pandemic were in sectors such as hospitality and tourism, with an estimated three quarters of new jobs likely to come from sectors such as these.

Andrew Carter, Centre for Cities’ Chief Executive, said: “Britain’s biggest cities will play a central role in our recovery from the pandemic.

“We must use Covid-19 as an economic reset and address many of the longstanding problems that the economy has faced in recent years such as stalled productivity and stagnant pay.

"To do this the Government will need to focus on investing in adult education to train people for higher paid jobs.

“Addressing these problems will be be essential if the Government hopes to attract higher-skilled businesses in emerging industries to cities and large towns in the North and Midlands and meet its levelling up objectives.”