What comes after furlough?

What an enriching business it is, having a global pandemic. That is the conclusion, at any rate, one might reach from reading, in isolation, the government’s figures on employment and earnings. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) the average earnings for employees have risen by 4.7 per cent over the past 12 months – finally lifting the nation from a lost decade of near-static wages. Never mind that the economy tanked by nearly 10 per cent last year, nor that whole sections of the economy are in the deep freeze, we’re in the middle of a pay bonanza the likes of which haven’t been seen in Britain for a decade and a half.

No, it doesn’t make much sense to me, either. It is yet one more bizarre economic statistic to have come out of this crisis. Among the others is the huge drop in corporate bankruptcies, which were at their lowest level last year since 1989.