Most of the corona restrictions have already been lifted in the UK. So far, many jobs have received state support, but the government is now turning off the tap. The consequences are uncertain.
With the end of the British version of short-time work, concerns about an increase in unemployment are growing. According to the think tank Resolution Foundation and the national statistical office, one million people were last on Furlough, as the expiring program in Great Britain is called. How many of them will still have a job in October remains to be seen.
“Nobody really knows what’s coming now,” said the director of the investment company Fidelity International, Maike Currie, on Thursday the BBC. They assume that there will be underemployment as employees may not be able to return to their jobs full-time.
The British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak praised the Furlough program, which kept many jobs afloat until the end of September, as a great success. He assumes that millions of people have been saved from unemployment. The projected number of unemployed is now two million lower than feared at the height of the pandemic, Sunak said in a statement.
The Resolution Foundation estimates that more than eleven million people have benefited from the program since it started in spring 2020. The British state also had to dig deep into its pockets for this: the program, officially known as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, cost around 70 billion pounds (about 81 billion euros), which represented an absolute novelty of state intervention in the labor market for Great Britain.
Many consider it unlikely that the end of the measure could remedy the acute shortage of long-distance drivers. “Any hope that the end of the Furlough program could miraculously resolve the crisis in the supply chains is very likely wishful thinking,” said Susannah Streeter of the British financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown of the BBC. Rather, it is to be expected that the qualifications and experience of the available workforce will not match the current vacancies.
A further economic upswing is likely to be a prerequisite for a socially acceptable transition into the post-furlough era. In the spring, the UK economy benefited greatly from the lifting of many corona restrictions and grew faster than expected. In the second quarter, economic output (GDP) rose by 5.5 percent compared to the previous quarter, as the ONS statistics office announced on Thursday in a second estimate. A previous survey had shown an increase of 4.8 percent.
The growth was broad-based, but household spending grew the most. They alone contributed four percentage points to total growth. As a result, the retail and hospitality industries also grew. The overall economic output is still 3.3 percent lower than before the Corona crisis.
The high gas prices, an acute shortage of truck drivers and the associated shortage of fuel are currently affecting the economy. The UK government is trying to alleviate the situation with temporary visas and other emergency measures.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
