Covid jobs crisis hits young people and ethnic minorities the hardest: More than one fifth of BAME workers and 19% of 18-24 year olds who were furloughed are now unemployed, report reveals
- One in five furloughed 18 to 24-year-olds have already been thrown out of work
- Resolution Foundation says it’s the worst jobs crisis for young since early 1980s
- Jobless rate for 18-24 year olds almost doubled to 20 percent since crisis started
Youth unemployment is set to hit the highest level in four decades after the furlough scheme ends this weekend, a report has warned.
Analysis by the Resolution Foundation reveals young people and those from ethnic minorities are bearing the brunt of the jobs crisis.
It found that one in five 18 to 24-year-olds who have been furloughed have since been thrown out of work – the worst jobs crisis for young people since the early 1980s.
A report has warned youth unemployment is set to hit the highest level in four decades after the furlough scheme ends this weekend
A similar proportion of people from ethnic minorities have lost jobs after being on the Government’s furlough scheme.
The report estimated the overall unemployment rate has risen from 4.5 per cent over the summer to 7 per cent last month. But it said the jobless rate for 18-24 year olds has almost doubled since the crisis started to 20 per cent.
Kathleen Henehan, senior research and policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: ‘The first eight months of the Covid crisis have been marked by an almighty economic shock and unprecedented support that has cushioned the impact in terms of people’s livelihoods.
‘But the true nature of Britain’s jobs crisis is starting to reveal itself. Around one-in-five young people, and over one-in-five BAME workers, have fallen straight from furloughing into unemployment.’
‘Worryingly, fewer than half of those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic have been able to find work since. This suggests that even if the public health crisis recedes in a few months’ time, Britain’s jobs crisis will be with us for far longer.’
The job retention scheme – which has cost more than £41billon so far – has been credited with helping to prevent a jobs bloodbath since it was launched in the Spring.
But official figures released earlier this month revealed the biggest surge in redundancies in a quarter of a century over the summer.
Analysis by the Resolution Foundation has found that one in five 18 to 24-year-olds who have been furloughed have since been thrown out of work
They revealed the jobless total has surged above 1.5million – rising by 138,000 between June and August.
This was the largest increase since summer of 2009, in the depths of the last financial crisis.
Firms laid off 227,000 staff between June and the end of August, more than double the number made redundant in the previous quarter.
This amounted to the sharpest rise in redundancies since comparable records began in 1995.
It pushed up the crucial unemployment rate from 4.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent, the highest in three years.
But the Resolution Foundation believes official figures have masked the scale of the unemployment crisis and that the true jobless total is likely to have hit 2.5milllion last month.