Britain’s unemployment crisis is closing in

Unemployment is creeping up. For months it remained stagnant, as the combination of the furlough scheme and people keeping out of the jobs market kept the rate deceptively low. But over the past few months, it has started to increase, with today’s labour market overview from the Office for National Statistics revealing a 4.5 per cent unemployment rate — the highest level in three years.

Still, at first glance you’d expect the unemployment rate to be much worse. After the largest economic contraction in three hundred years, an increase from 3.9 per cent at the start of the year to 4.5 per cent now would give the impression we’ve avoided catastrophe.

But the rise is unlikely to stop here: with the economy recovering at a slower pace than many anticipated, and with significantly more restrictions coming this month (including a return to full closures for certain businesses around the country), the unemployment rate is bound to climb.