Economics
U.K. Loses 700,000 Jobs to Pandemic as Aid Pressure Mounts
- Government still plans to end its wage support next month
- Economists fear a spike in unemployment when furloughs stop
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Britain’s labor market took a turn for the worse in July even as the economy gradually reopened, taking total job losses under the pandemic to almost 700,000 and raising pressure on the government to extend its wage support.
Employment fell by 102,000, the first decline since the initial full month of lockdown in April, the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. The pandemic also finally began filtering through to the unemployment rate -- so far subdued by the furlough program -- pushing the single-month figure up the most since 2013.