Unemployment

Next year unemployment is predicted to be massive because of lockdown this year. The original period was covered in part by help from the treasury and with extensive alterations even in the smallest of businesses like hair dressers, it was possible to be legal and serve loyal customers. However, the second lockdown has wiped out much of that good grace and it now seems possible that the after effect next year will be huge.

While many parts of the country went into lockdown to combat the spread of the virus, unemployment numbers have been rising sharply. How high could the unemployment rate go?

Unemployment was less than a million only 12 months ago, it is now likely to reach two & half million by the summer of 2021. This is echoed by the Bank of England, which forecasts that unemployment will most likely peak at about 7.7% in April to June of next year.

The government has been trying to protect jobs through a number of measures. The largest is the furlough scheme, where it pays most of the wages for workers when their employers cannot. That has prevented many of those people becoming unemployed. However, the furlough scheme was being wound down in September and October, ahead of its planned closure on 31 October. Many companies cut jobs in preparation for the end of the scheme, and July to September saw a record rise in the number of redundancies.

The Tier System that will be introduced on Wednesday 2nd December could be more devastating to unemployment than has been predicted because of the uncertainty of which tier each business is in. With a general lockdown, everyone knows the score.

Another problem will be the offical Christmas break of five days, if it is to be compared to the American Thanksgiving break, we can see a huge rise in cases because of the contact people have made over the period. Therefore it follows that the early part of January 2021 will be heavy with cases & deaths, possibly causing more restrictions and increased issues for businesses.