Official figures indicate the largest decline in employment in over a decade, between the April and June this year.
The Office of National Statistics have said that employment decreased by 220,000 in that quarter, the largest quarterly crisis since May to July 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. The body continued that those hardest hit by the pandemic were the youngest workers, the oldest workers and those employed in manual labour.
ONS said: "Early indicators for July 2020 suggest that the number of employees in the UK on payrolls is down around 730,000 compared with March 2020.”
The country’s unemployment rate is estimated to sit at 3.9 per cent, largely unchanged from the previous quarter, while millions are able to remain in the furlough scheme.
According to deputy national statistician at the ONS, Jonathan Athow: "The groups of people most affected are younger workers, 24 and under, or older workers and those in more routine or less skilled jobs.
"This is concerning, as it's harder for these groups to find a new job or get into a job as easily as other workers."
Analysts have warned that unemployment is set to worsen in the coming months as the furlough scheme comes to an end. According to senior UK economist at Capital Economics, Ruth Gregory, the current employment figures are merely a “lull before the storm".
She continued: “The cracks evident in the latest batch of labour market data are likely to soon turn into a chasm, with the unemployment rate rising from 3.9 per cent to around seven per cent by mid-2021."
With 140,000 redundancies announced in June alone, experts conclude we are on a “cliff-edge”.
