UK unemployment reaches four-year-high two weeks before Brexit formalisation
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Britain’s unemployment rate rose again in the three months to October and redundancies reached a record high as companies were hit by new coronavirus restrictions and prepared for the end of government job subsidies that were eventually extended into 2021.
Official data showed the unemployment rate reached 4.9%, up from 4.8% in the three months to September, its highest in more than four years.
However, the increase was smaller than expected by most economists. A Reuters poll had forecast a jump to 5.1%.
The number of redundancies reached a record high of 370,000 in the August-to-October period, although it decreased in October alone, the Office for National Statistics said.
“Overall we have seen a continuation of recent trends, with a further weakening in the labour market,” said Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics.
For much of the period covered by Tuesday’s data, finance minister Rishi Sunak rejected calls to extend his broad job- retention scheme beyond a scheduled Oct. 31 expiry, raising fears of an acceleration in job losses.
But, as a second wave COVID-19 cases hit, Sunak was forced to extend the scheme until the end of March 2021.
