Economics

Covid Hastens an Overdue Reckoning for U.K. Economy

The country faces a shock to its job market not seen since the 1980s. The question is what will come out the other end.

Photographer: Darren Staples/Bloomberg
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There’s one message from the British government that’s been clear as the coronavirus rages again: the labor market is about to go through a shock not seen in a generation.

The truth is that the U.K. economy was overdue a reckoning. The pandemic has just exposed the cracks that were already appearing in the model that came out of the tumultuous overhaul of the 1980s.