Lining up graphs of the UK’s growth figures last week and its employment figures this week, you would struggle to believe the data was from the same decade, let alone the same month. Despite the economy contracting by a quarter in March and April, unemployment figures haven’t budged: 3.9 per cent ending the month of April, unmoved from the quarter before, and more remarkably only up 0.1 per cent from the previous year.
The employment rate remains surprisingly high too: 76.4 per cent, down 0.1 per cent on the previous quarter. Despite the shuttering of the economy, employment and unemployment continue to hover at record highs and lows, like they did before the crisis began. But look past the headline figures in today’s ONS data drop, and Britain’s employment status looks foggier. Indeed, the headline figure doesn’t tell the full story.
While today’s data confirms the furloughing scheme has worked on many counts, it confirms the worst fears about the policy too: it has masked the impact of Covid-19 on Britain’s economy
While the unemployment figure didn’t budge, the number of people registered on company payrolls fell by over 600,000, while the number of hours people worked.
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