600k Brits have already lost their jobs during lockdown with unemployment set to hit 3MILLION

SHOCKING new figures have revealed 600k Brits have already lost their jobs during lockdown with unemployment now set to hit three million.

Experts fear the figures will in the coming months reveal the biggest drop in employment on record, laying bare the impact of the coronavirus lockdown.

Early estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest 163,000 people lost their jobs in May, on top of 449,000 the previous month.

The ONS explained the numbers suggested a 2 per cent fall in paid employees since the country went into lockdown on March 23.

Employment also fell by 0.8 per cent in April.

Inactivity also rose significantly with the total hours worked showing a record fall of 94million a week. 

The ONS deputy national economic statistician Jonathan Athow said: "The slowdown in the economy is now visibly hitting the labour market, especially in terms of hours worked.

"Early indicators for May show that the number of employees on payrolls were down over 600,000 compared with March."

It will pile pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to cut job taxes in a bid to deter employers laying off staff and encourage recruitment.

A holiday from Employer National Insurance contributions would save firms £2,400 for a worker on the average UK salary.

The Office for National Statistics figures are believed to show young people and those who live in former industrial areas, inner cities and coastal towns as the worst affected.

Minister for Employment Mims Davies claimed the figures showed the devastation the pandemic was having on Britain's workers.

She said: “Today’s figures are starting to show the impact of Covid-19 on our economy, but our furlough scheme, grants, loans and tax cuts have protected thousands of businesses and millions of jobs, setting us up for recovery.

“By responding to the needs of communities across the UK they will be at the heart of our revival and renewal, helping people find new roles and move forward with their lives.”

Today it was revealed Universal Credit claims from March 1 to June 9 reached a massive 3.2 million individual declarations.

The Institute for Employment Studies expects the total jobless figure to mid-May will be between 2.6million and 2.8million.

IES chief Tony Wilson told The Sun: “If you rolled that forward to today I think that means there’s three million unemployed. I think it’s a given we’re at that level.

“That would be the highest unemployment we’ve had since the 1980s and it will be pretty close to the highest we’ve ever had.

“Young people dominate in a lot of the jobs that have been lost in the sectors that have been shut down.

“We also know that young people are often the last people to join and are the first people to be let go.”

“All told, we’re in the middle of a huge jobs crisis that’s going to be the story for the next five years or more.”

Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: "These numbers show that unless the Government acts, the UK is likely to face mass unemployment on a scale not seen for decades once the furlough scheme is withdrawn.

"There must be urgent action from the Government to assist the hardest-hit regions and specific support for sectors particularly exposed to the nature of the Covid crisis."

Today former Tory leader William Hague warned lockdown is a "disaster for society", and urged Boris to scrap the two-metre rule.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Hague compared lockdown to Dunkirk, labelling it "a heroic operation, but the result of a massive failure"

He said: “We now know that a lockdown is not a temporary blip or a paid holiday, but a disaster for our society. It is increasing inequality, social tension, and unaffordable debt.”

“Such a disaster cannot under any circumstances be repeated. There can be no second lockdown.”

It comes as a poll found that half of all UK workers are worried about their job prospects in the wake of the virus crisis.

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