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One in five ethnic minority workers and a similar number of young people who were suspended during the first coronavirus lockdown have since lost their jobs, according to a report.
The Resolution Foundation said young, black, Asian and ethnic minority workers struggled the hardest as layoffs accelerated to the fastest pace on record and the government phased out its flagship leave program, which is due to close this week.
Against a backdrop of growing concern over job losses, he said the drop in post-leave unemployment had been more common among black, Asian and ethnic minority workers, with 22% of BAME workers in a detailed YouGov survey of more than 6,000 adults. falling off work.
The same proportion of people who were employed on insecure contracts had also gone from leave to unemployment, while the study found that 19% of 18-24 year olds also entered the unemployment registry.
The figures are significantly higher than the average of 9% of licensed adults who were no longer working in September, which the think tank also said was a higher number than initially expected.
The analysis comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak was forced to expand the government’s new license replacement scheme, set to launch next week after the end of the original billion-pound wage subsidy program.
Sunak had announced success of the coronavirus job retention scheme, commonly known as leave, early last month, after more than half of the 8.9 million people who used the program during the initial Covid-19 lockdown returned to their jobs during the summer.
However, official figures show that nearly one in 10 of the workforce is still on leave (more than 2 million people) before the plan closes this week. Employers and their staff have also come under renewed pressure as the rapid growth of coronavirus infections and the launch of strong local lockdowns drastically deflect the UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
According to the Resolution Foundation, less than half (43%) of people who lost their jobs since March had found a new job in September, in a sign of the challenge workers face at a time when many companies have suspended their plans. hiring due to the pandemic.
Only one in three young people who lost their job has found a new job, with a similar figure for people in the worst-hit sectors of the economy, such as hospitality, leisure and retail, where heavy restrictions mean that companies are less likely to accept new staff.
Frances O’Grady, secretary general of the TUC, said the government urgently needed to consider how its recovery plans could prevent long-standing inequalities from worsening.
Calling on ministers to invest more in job creation, he said: “Losing your job is terrible at any time, but it is especially difficult now when few employers are hiring new workers. Stopping the devastation of mass unemployment must be the government’s top priority. “
Kathleen Henehan, senior research and policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The first eight months of the Covid crisis have been marked by an all-powerful economic shock and unprecedented support that has cushioned the impact in terms of the media of life of the people.
“It is worrisome that less than half of those who lost their jobs during the pandemic have been able to find work since then. This suggests that even if the public health crisis recedes in a few months, the jobs crisis in Britain will be with us for much longer. “
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