More than 800,000 jobs have been lost during the coronavirus pandemic, alarming figures reveal

MORE than 800,000 jobs have been lost during the Covid pandemic, alarming figures have revealed.

Unemployment rose to 4.9 per cent in October despite £280billion in bailout schemes.

⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

2

This was up from 4.8 per cent in the previous month.

And redundancies hit a new high of 370,000 between August and October, the Office for National Statistics said.

By October, the number of employees on payroll was down 819,000 on the pre-pandemic figure.

But there were 547,000 job vacancies in the UK, a rise of 110,000 on the previous quarter.

The figures are for shortly before England’s second national lockdown.

As a result, ministers extended the furlough wages scheme to March.

Most read in Politics

BIN AND GONE

Fury as over 10% of councils could slash bin collections - are you affected?

DON'T EU FORGET US

Don't prioritise EU while neglecting Trump trade deal, Tories fume at PM

SPEECHLESS

Pressure heaped on Keir over 'Covid lockdown breach' as he faces MPs grilling

STORM NIGEL 

Farage COULD topple Keir, Labour MPs admit - after Reform topped new poll

Employment minister Mims Davies said: “It’s been a truly challenging year for many but, with a vaccine beginning to roll out with more perhaps to follow and the number of job vacancies increasing, there is hope on the horizon for 2021.”

But Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds slammed Chancellor Rishi Sunak, tweeting that: “His irresponsible decisions have cost jobs.”

And Laura Stewart-Smith, of insurance giant Aviva, said: “This latest data brings the impact the pandemic has had on the UK labour market into sharp relief.”

2

GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL [email protected]