What does the coronavirus crisis mean for unemployment in the UK and Europe? A study out today from Capital Economics offers a possible answer and if it’s bad news for Britain, its worse for those in the eurozone.
Here in Britain, the huge economic consequences spurred on by the virus – which will see growth plunge in the second quarter of 2020 – are estimated to cause a sharp, albeit short, spike in unemployment: an estimated rise from 3.9 per cent to six per cent; roughly 700,000 job losses:
Capital Economics considers several factors when calculating these new unemployment projections, including a lower number of total hours worked in the economy during the Covid-19 crisis, and how this work is split between people reducing their hours or becoming unemployed all together.
This research supports the evidence we’ve already seen that job loss is becoming sharp and sudden (in just four weeks, 200,000
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