LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British unemployment jumped in the first quarter on the back of coronavirus, despite a lockdown being imposed only near the end of the period, official data showed Tuesday.
The total number of unemployed people rose 50,000 to 1.3 million in three months to March from a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.
The ONS also revealed that jobless claims, made under the Universal Credit welfare support system, surged 69 percent or 856,000 to 2.1 million in April from March.
Britain had imposed a lockdown on March 23 in a bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus, and launched a so-called furlough jobs retention scheme under which the government stepped in to back up employee wages.
“While only covering the first weeks of restrictions, our figures show COVID-19 is having a major impact on the labour market,” said Jonathan Athow, ONS deputy national statistician for economic statistics.
“In March employment held up well, as furloughed workers still count as employed, but hours worked fell sharply in late March, especially in sectors such as hospitality and construction.”
The ONS also signalled in an early estimate that the number of paid employees in April fell by 1.6 percent compared to March.
“Through April… there were signs of falling employment as real-time tax data show the number of employees on companies’ payrolls fell noticeably, and vacancies were sharply down too, with hospitality again falling steepest,” added Athow.
The British unemployment rate meanwhile stood at 3.9 percent in the three months to March. That compared with 3.8 percent a year earlier.
Finance minister Rishi Sunak had last week extended the furlough policy by four months until the end of October.
The government scheme is supporting 7.5 million jobs, ensuring employees receive 80 percent of their monthly pay up to £2,500 ($3,100, 2,800 euros).
© Agence France-Presse