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The chancellor has said looking for new ways to protect jobs is his “number one priority” after the unemployment rate hit its highest level in two years.Rishi Sunak said finding innovative solutions was “top of mind” as figures showed unemployment rose to 4.1% in the three months to July, up from 3.9%. Labour called for the furlough scheme to be replaced when it ends in October, warning joblessness could spike.But the chancellor stressed this would not help people find new opportunities.Mr Sunak acknowledged the furlough wage support scheme had worked, with more than half of the 9.6 million workers furloughed since May returning to work by mid-August.But he told the BBC: “I wouldn’t be being honest with people if I pretended that it was always going to be possible for people to return to the job that they had. “Now in terms of helping those people, I don’t think the right thing to do is to endlessly extend furlough. “People don’t want to be at home, they want to be in work, and that’s why our plan for jobs is so important, because it helps provide people with new opportunities, going forward.” Instead he said the government had cut taxes for business, offered targeted support to the hospitality industry, and launched a job retention bonus for firms that bring back staff from furlough.At the job protection scheme’s peak in May, 30% of the workforce across the UK was furloughed. That figure fell to 11% by mid-August.Support for struggling sectors?Earlier on Tuesday, employment minister Mims Davies also indicated that more targeted support for struggling sectors could be announced by the government. “There will be sectors that take longer to come back – I don’t think this government is afraid of supporting where we can,” she said. Is the Chancellor cooking up a new jobs scheme?The furlough scheme was designed with a specific problem in mind – to keep people connected to jobs that would return after the pandemic peak passed. Any future package would be concentrated on a different target – to help create new and replacement jobs, or to allow for short time work. Number 11 is still sceptical about sectoral targeting. How do you deal with supply chains, for example, a media buyer who works in the aviation industry? Will cash be wasted on businesses that do not need support? But the very facts that the chancellor pointed out to me in Stoke, that people are quite quickly coming off furlough, show that is less of a worry than might be thought. The ongoing generosity of such a scheme would have to be assessed in the light of the spending review, and high levels of government debt.Something is cooking at the Treasury as it looks beyond furlough scheme.Though it is not yet what might be referred to as “oven ready”.Read more hereWhat do the latest unemployment figures show?Firms have continued to remove staff from payrolls as they prepare for the end of the furlough scheme on 31 October, the latest employment figures show.About 695,000 UK workers have disappeared from the payrolls of British companies since March, when the coronavirus lockdown began, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Young workers have also been hard hit, with those aged 16 to 24 suffering the biggest drop in employment compared with other age groups.Some 156,000 fewer young people were in employment in the three months to July compared to the previous quarter, the ONS said.Unemployment rate: How many people are out of work?”Generation Z has been hit particularly hard by the economic fall out of the pandemic as the retail and hospitality sectors, which have taken such a battering, are often relied on to help school and university leavers find an entry-level job, and get started in the world of work,” said Susannah Streeter, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.”Sadly, this may not just be a bump in the road but could have long term consequences for the path of their careers.”The government has launched a scheme called Kickstart to create work placements for unemployed young people. Employers will be paid £1,500 for every 16-24 year old they train.How is the furlough scheme affecting employment?The unemployment rate has risen slightly, but experts say it does not yet fully illustrate the full impact of the economic crisis on jobs, with the furlough scheme helping keep the numbers down.The government’s Job Retention Scheme begins tapering off this month before ending on 31 October.Under the scheme the government initially paid 80% of a person’s wages up to £2,500 a month. Since the start of September, the state’s contribution has fallen to 70%, with employers expected to make up the remainder of pay. What are the experts saying?Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics, said there had been some signs that the economy “reopened” in July as businesses including restaurants, pubs and hairdressers were allowed to trade again.Job vacancies in the three months to August jumped by 30% to 434,000 – although this was still significantly below pre-virus levels. However, Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics research group, said he expected that “employment will fall more sharply and unemployment will increase more quickly as the furlough scheme continues to unwind and ceases at the end of October”.
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What has the political reaction been?Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – addressing the TUC conference by video link, as he is self-isolating – called for an extension of part-time working as furlough comes to an end, with rewards for employers who keep people on, though he gave no detail of these rewards. He also called for targeted support for vulnerable sectors such as hospitality and aviation.He urged ministers to “outlaw fire-and-rehire tactics” where workers are made redundant, then taken back on worse terms.How do those affected feel?Orrean Jacob recently lost the job he had done for nine years, working at the Mini car factory in Oxford as an agency worker.”They decided to let people go, and I was one of them,” he says. Hundreds of workers at the plant were affected.”It really hurt. When you go to work, it’s not just about the money or pay. It’s about making something of yourself, making friends and making connections.”Although he found himself in a similar position to many others during the pandemic, a phone call with a friend presented him with an opportunity. They recommended he get in touch with the HS2 rail project about their one-week training programmes.By the end of the following week, he was fully licensed to be on-site and drive a forklift, having completed a course worth about £1,000 with one of HS2’s sub-contractors.”This was just the push I needed in the right direction – to find something new, to find a new path to pursue because the other one clearly wasn’t working.”Have you lost your job as a result of the coronavirus pandemic? Share your experiences by emailing [email protected] include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

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Two women affected by the state pension age being changed from 60 to 66 for women have lost their appeal against a High Court ruling.Campaigners claim women born in the 1950s have been treated unfairly by rapid changes to their pension age, due to reach 66 later this year. On Tuesday, senior judges unanimously dismissed the women’s appeal.They say introducing the same state pension age for men and women did not amount to unlawful discrimination.The government welcomed the ruling, saying the changes were a “long-overdue move towards gender equality”.Julie Delve, 62, and Karen Glynn, 63, backed by campaign group BackTo60, were challenging the pension age changes after losing a High Court fight against the Department for Work and Pensions last year. The fight over women’s state pensionsThe campaign groups associated with the court case represent almost four million women who were affected by the government decision to increase the state pension age from 60 to 66. Many on lower incomes say they are facing financial hardship as a result.Campaigners, however, say their fight is not over. Joanne Welch, founder and director of BackTo60, told the BBC she would now consider taking the case to the Supreme Court and would also draft legislation to bring a women’s Bill of Rights. Unison, the UK’s largest trade union, said raising the state pension age with “next to no notice” has had a calamitous effect on the retirement plans of a generation of women. It called on MPs to intervene to help those women who were now struggling to make ends meet.’I lost my home’Pamela Satchwell had to carry on working post 60 after the pension age rules changed. She did 16 hours a week as a carer for disabled children and people with ADHD. But without a pension contribution to support her earnings, it was not enough. Pam’s husband then died. She subsequently lost her house because she could not afford her mortgage alone and she had to sell all of the jewellery her husband had given her. Now that she is 67, she is finally receiving her pension and she manages better financially. “But it’s too late now. I lost my home, I have none of the trinkets my husband gave me. I lost the life I had and I am never going to get it back,” says Pam. As for the women involved in the court case, Pam wishes people understood it is not so easy for that those who found out they could not retire. “You can not just run out and find a job when you are in your 60s. Employers don’t want people that age, ” she says. ‘Paid less than men’ Julie Delve and Karen Glynn were in court last June when they told a judicial review that when they had not received their state pension at the age of 60, their lives had been affected disproportionately. They argued the way the government had introduced the increase of the pension age was discriminatory. Some women thought they would retire at 60 but found they had to wait up to more than five years, leading to financial hardship. Campaigners say the workplace was less equal for many of this generation who were taking time out of their careers to raise children, were paid less than men and could not save as much in occupational pensions, so the change has hit them harder. The senior justices said: “Despite the sympathy that we, like the members of the Divisional Court [High Court], feel for the appellants and other women in their position, we are satisfied that this is not a case where the court can interfere with the decisions taken through the parliamentary process.”They said that “in the light of the extensive evidence” put forward by the government, they agreed with the High Court’s assessment that “it is impossible to say that the government’s decision to strike the balance where it did – between the need to put state pension provision on a sustainable footing and the recognition of the hardship that could result for those affected by the changes – was manifestly without reasonable foundation”.End of the road?This issue led to a huge campaign, not always led by the same groups, which has garnered widespread support for women who believe their pensions were stolen from them.A different result in the general election could have changed the picture. Labour had promised to compensate those affected.That avenue was closed for campaigners. Now, the BackTo60 group has lost another major court battle.Driven supporters may not be willing to give up, and will hope to take it to the next stage legally.But with each defeat, their chances of actually seeing a greater pension become slimmer.Mental health impactUnison assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said: “For a generation of women, this is nothing short of a disaster.”Those on lower incomes have been left in dire straits, struggling to make ends meet with precious little support from the government.”Yvette Greenway Mansfield, chief executive of the charity, SOS the Silence of Suicide and the partner of the QC who argued the case in court, underlined the mental health impact the government’s decision had had. She cited a recent survey by her charity which garnered 20,000 responses about the pensions age change.”People have been having thoughts of suicide, they are self harming,” said Ms Mansfield. “This is the unseen impact. This is not discussed anywhere near enough and I am hugely concerned for women.”A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said they were pleased the court “decided that due notice” had been given to women.They added: “The government decided 25 years ago that it was going to make the state pension age the same for men and women as a long-overdue move towards gender equality.”Raising state pension age in line with life expectancy changes has been the policy of successive administrations over many years.”

The World Trade Organization has ruled that tariffs the US imposed on Chinese goods in 2018, triggering a trade war, were “inconsistent” with international trade rules.The WTO said the US did not provide evidence that its claims of China’s unfair technology theft and state aid justified the border taxes.Chinese officials welcomed the ruling.But the US said it showed that the WTO was “completely inadequate” to the task of confronting China.Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, America’s top trade negotiator, said the US “must be allowed to defend itself against unfair trade practices”. “This panel report confirms what the Trump Administration has been saying for four years: The WTO is completely inadequate to stop China’s harmful technology practices,” he said.”Although the panel did not dispute the extensive evidence submitted by the US of intellectual property theft by China, its decision shows that the WTO provides no remedy for such misconduct.”US-China trade warChina brought the case to the WTO in 2018, as the Trump administration started preparing the first rounds of tariffs on what would eventually become more than $300bn worth of products. The complaint challenged tariffs enacted in June and September of 2018 on goods estimated at more than $200bn in annual trade.The US said the duties were a response to China’s state-sanctioned technology theft, subsidies and other “unfair practices” and allowed under 1970s-era trade rules.But China said the taxes violated trade regulations because they were higher than US commitments and targeted only one country.A panel of WTO experts agreed with those claims. It added that the US had not proved its case that the tariffs were justified on moral grounds because it did not show how the products affected by the duties had benefited from the unfair practices. “The panel found, accordingly, that the US had not met its burden of demonstrating that the measures are provisionally justified,” it said.’Unprecedented global trade tensions’The panel added that it had only looked into the US measures and not China’s retaliation, which Washington has not challenged at the WTO.Noting “unprecedented global trade tensions”, the three-person panel encouraged the two sides to work to resolve the overall dispute.In a statement on Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it hoped the US would respect the rulings of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and take practical action to maintain the multilateral trading system.The Trump administration, which has repeatedly criticised the WTO, may appeal the decision. But the case could then enter a legal paralysis because Washington has blocked the appointment of judges to the appellate body, preventing it from convening the minimum number required to hear cases.

Small businesses have been thrown a lifeline after the High Court ruled some insurers should have paid out for losses caused by lockdown.Judges ruled that the disease clauses in some business interruption policies should have meant they were covered.Following lockdown, a host of businesses had to close and many looked to insurers to cover their losses.But many insurers disputed the claims, arguing policies were never meant to cover such unprecedented restrictions. The test case was brought by the Financial Conduct Authority and had the potential to affect 370,000 mostly small businesses.The insurers can appeal against the decision. Policyholders should hear from their insurer within seven days.’We’ve spent £10,000 on invalid virus insurance’Christopher Woolard, interim chief executive of the FCA, said the ruling removed “a large number” of roadblocks to successful claims, as well as clarifying those that might not be successful.”We are pleased that the court has substantially found in favour of the arguments we presented on the majority of the key issues. “Today’s judgement is a significant step in resolving the uncertainty being faced by policyholders.”Coronavirus is causing substantial loss and distress to businesses and many are under immense financial strain to stay afloat.”‘We have been under immense stress’Anna Smart runs a photography studio in Oxfordshire with her husband Robin and thought she was covered by business interruption insurance.But when she was turned down by her insurer, she was forced to make her one member of staff redundant and move out of their premises.She said it was “painful” to let someone go and it felt like “ditching a member of the family”.Instead, they have used a Bounce Back loan to build a studio in their back garden.Businesses such as hers were under “immense” stress, she said, while some had already been forced to close permanently, irrespective of the result of the case.Hospitality Insurance Group Action (Higa), one of the campaign groups backing the FCA’s case, said thousands of UK hospitality businesses should now be able to receive pay-outs as a result of the judgement.Sonia Campbell, of law firm Mishcon de Reya, which represents Higa, said: “This is fantastic news which has shown that we were right to pursue insurers who across the board denied cover for Covid-related losses. “I would now urge other hospitality businesses to join us to ensure that they can successfully recover payments from insurers in line with the court’s decision.”The Hiscox Action Group (HAG), which has more than 400 members and also intervened in the case, called Tuesday’s ruling a “landmark”.Steering committee member Mark Killick said: “The most important thing now is that the insurers accept this ruling and start to pay out rather than embark on a fruitless appeals process that will just cause more suffering for the very policyholders they were meant to protect.”‘Blanket denials’As of July, about 400 companies had complained to the financial ombudsman, saying they had been wrongly denied cover for lockdown-related losses. In response, the FCA brought its test case, arguing that while some insurers had provided payouts to customers, many claims had been “rejected” under “blanket denials of cover”.It asked the High Court to decide on the correct interpretation of a selection of policies, with judges in the end looking at 21 issued by eight separate insurers – among them giants such as Hiscox, RSA, QBE and Zurich. The ruling could affect many more policies. However, the regulator added: “Although the judgement will bring welcome news for many policyholders, the judgement did not say that the eight defendant insurers are liable across all of the 21 different types of policy wording in the representative sample considered by the court.”Each policy needs to be considered against the detailed judgement to work out what it means for that policy.”Insurer Hiscox said it was “assessing the judgement in detail” to see how it applied to claims made by individual policyholders.Huw Evans, director general of the Association of British Insurers, said: “Insurers have supported this fast-track court process led by the FCA to help bring clarity for customers and we welcome the speed with which the court has delivered a ruling.”The judgment divides evenly between insurers and policyholders on the main issues. The national lockdown was an unprecedented situation that posed understandable questions of interpretation for some business insurance contracts.”Insurers always regret any contract dispute with their customers and will continue to reflect on feedback from recent events.”Both sides have some grounds to celebrate after this ruling.For policyholders, there is progress towards the payout they believe they are entitled to.They may still have to wait some time to see the money. Some will ultimately be disappointed to not get a penny.For insurers, there is some relief as some may not be paying out as much as could have been the case in their worst-case scenario.Both sides wanted clarity, quickly, but this dispute may still have more twists and turns before it is finally settled.

New Look has won approval for its store rents to be linked to turnover as part of a deal to secure the struggling fashion chain’s future.The company said its creditors had backed a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), safeguarding 11,000 jobs.The agreement means that its landlords will have to accept a percentage of a shop’s revenue for their rent instead of relying on a fixed lease. New Look said the new model “reflects the wider retail market”. Landlords have been willing to renegotiate turnover-linked rents during the coronavirus pandemic, as vast areas of the economy were forced to shutdown.However, New Look’s decision to link its proposal to a CVA has drawn criticism from the British Property Federation.”CVAs were designed to be short-term, as part of a wider rescue package, to support businesses in genuine distress,” said the federation’s chief executive, Melanie Leech.”We support this rescue culture, but today’s result clearly demonstrates how the process is now wrongfully being used as a weapon by businesses to rip up leases permanently.” Setting a precedentNew Look – which is undergoing its second CVA in three years – said that 402 of its shops would move to the turnover-linked model. Rent on these stores will be charged at between 2% and 12% of revenue. Under the CVA, the remaining 68 stores will move to zero rent.Chloe Collins, senior apparel analyst at GlobalData, said the model would set a precedent for other retailers in their dealings with landlords.But she warned: “New Look is such a big player in the market and would, upon collapse, have left over 400 empty stores on High Streets and in shopping centres, so smaller retailers must think twice before assuming similar CVAs would be approved, given they may not be as important to landlords.”During lockdown, the migration from in-store shopping to online accelerated.However, New Look’s chief executive, Nigel Oddy, said the firm “fundamentally” believed its physical shops still had “a significant part to play in the overall retail market”. He added: “We look forward to working closely with our landlords and all creditors to ensure we can navigate the uncertain times ahead together.”

Sophie Parsons, from Edinburgh, says she is feeling “demoralised” after applying for 100 jobs and not getting a single interview.The 22-year-old was made redundant in March after working in Italy, teaching English as a foreign language.She told the Good Morning Scotland radio programme that about 10% of the prospective employers had replied with a courtesy email.”They say things like ‘there were better candidates’ or ‘we have had 1,000 people apply for this role’,” Sophie says.”It just sounds like it will only get worse.”The latest unemployment figures show a slight increase in the number of people out of work in Scotland, but the figures could be masking a lack of jobs for people without work.Sophie was originally applying for jobs she really wanted but is now trying for anything she thinks she might have a chance of getting.”I am still getting rejected,” she says. “Every time I find something I might be interested in I still have a bit of hope but that hope is quickly disintegrating.”Sophie says her generation are not being treated fairly over coronavirus, both being blamed for spreading it and suffering from its economic effects.”We are being told not to kill our grandparents, which I think is pretty insensitive, and then we are not being employed,” she says.”We have got new ideas and we are passionate and we have not been jaded by 50 years of working yet so I think giving us a chance could be a really good thing.”‘It’s the first time in my life I’ve claimed benefits’Fiona Stewart logs onto her laptop early each morning to sift through daily job emails.Throughout her career, the 51-year-old mum from Renfrew has mainly worked in legal and human resource roles. She was laid off from an administration job in June while on furlough.”I must have applied for 50 or 60 jobs since then, including big supermarkets and schools – anything I feel I’ll be able to do,” she told BBC Scotland’s The Nine programme.Several years ago, the Scout leader had a previous spell of unemployment but she says things are much tougher now.”In the past, you would be able to go to agencies and there would be temporary work available but there just aren’t any jobs out there. “This is the first time I’ve ever claimed benefits in my life but I’ve got to try and remain optimistic.” ‘There are a lot of people going for jobs here’Between job applications, Richard Cooke spends his time updating neighbours about the weather.He lives on the isle of Lewis and come rain or shine he updates his popular social media page with the latest forecast. “I’ve always been obsessed since I was tiny and I’ll talk about it to anyone who will listen, really,” he says.The former Met Office employee had to give up his job when his father became poorly. Now, he’s finding it tough to get back into employment. “There is a lot of people going for jobs here and it’s exacerbated by the ongoing Covid situation. It makes it more challenging than it would normally be.”The 32-year-old has applied for about 20 jobs and says some companies are overwhelmed with applications. “They’re saying they have a backlog of interviews to get through and can’t give as much feedback as they usually would because of sheer demand,” Richard says.Originally from Lancashire, Richard is hoping for a customer service role – and despite the challenges of finding work, he isn’t keen to return to the mainland. “The island and its people mean a lot to me and I’m quite happy here,” he says.’I’m learning new skills for my CV’In a warehouse in Glasgow, Brooke uses a pallet jack to lift heavy boxes of baked beans.The 16-year-old is on an employability course run by charity Move On after struggling at school.”I wasn’t the best behaved when I was younger,” she says. “A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t see myself in a place like this but I’ve got my head screwed on now.” Brooke has been unemployed since August and with the programme finishing in a couple of weeks, she’s getting ready to search for work. “I’m doing my forklift training because I think that will be a good thing to have on my CV,” she says. “It would really mean the world to me to get a full-time job and that’s what I’m working so hard for.”She says her new skills have made her more confident and determined. “My dream would be to start at the bottom and work my way to the top,” she says. “When I do start earning money, I’m definitely going to spoil my Nana.”‘I’ve seen others go down a bad route’Paul Donnelly can often be seen weaving in and out of shops along the high street in Greenock town centre. The area, in Inverclyde, has the highest levels of deprivation in Scotland. Armed with his CV, he asks staff if they have any shifts available.”For jobs in Glasgow, I would apply online but here I prefer to just go in and ask the managers,” he says.The 27-year-old has been without paid work for seven months and is relying on Jobseekers Allowance and support from his family.”You get a monthly payment but I don’t agree that’s enough to live on,” he says. “I think it’s putting people in a position where they’re getting into debt. I’ve watched people going down the bad route in life, that’s why I’m so determined to find work.”The occasional actor fancies a career in the food industry after a taster course at college, but he is finding it tough. “It seems that every job I go for, I’m not suitable for,” h says. “Hopefully in the future I can get my own house and get on with my life.”You can watch more on these stories on The Nine on the BBC Scotland channel at 21:00 and after on the BBC iplayer.

Online grocer Ocado saw its sales rocket more than 50% in the third quarter of the year as more people shopped online in lockdown.Sales at Ocado Retail, its joint venture with Marks & Spencer, and previously Waitrose, were £587.3m in the 13 weeks to 30 August.The firm said growth was stronger than in the second quarter, while weekly orders stood at 345,000, up almost 10%.But it said uncertainties remained over the “ongoing impact” of the pandemic.The firm’s switch to delivering M&S products on 1 September got off to a rocky start, with the retailer having to cancel some orders owing to high demand. Ocado says switch to online shopping is permanentIt also temporarily halted deliveries to staff members to help clear an order backlog.However, on Tuesday, the grocer explained that because of excitement over the partnership, the launch day had been its biggest forward order day to date. Average shopper baskets have also increased by about five items since it began offering M&S goods. The firm, which booked a pre-tax loss of £214.5m in 2019, said it expected strong underlying earnings of £40m this year because of continued demand. Melanie Smith, Ocado Retail’s chief executive, said: “Our aim is to continue to set the bar as we begin again to welcome new customers who are seeing the benefits of online shopping in ever greater numbers and we remain focused and on track to increase capacity by 40% through to 2021.”M&S boost?Analysts said the results were not only promising for Ocado, but also for M&S, which bought a 50% stake in the Ocado Retail business for £750m last year.Some warned the business had overpaid at a time when its business was struggling.Sophie Lund-Yates, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “This could bode well for Marks & Spencer, whose sales could do with a boost, and who staked a lot on this deal paying off. “98% of customers are already shopping at M&S, though, so it will be interesting to see how many of these sales will have simply transferred from stores.”Ocado has said the recent shift to online shopping could mean a “permanent redrawing” of the retail landscape.”The world as we know it has changed,” chief executive Tim Steiner said in July.”As a result of Covid-19, we have seen years of growth in the online grocery market condensed into a matter of months; and we won’t be going back.”

The UK unemployment rate has risen to its highest level for two years, official figures show.The unemployment rate grew to 4.1% in the three months to July, compared with 3.9% previously.Young people were particularly hard-hit, with those aged 16 to 24 suffering the biggest drop in employment compared with other age groups.Firms continue to remove staff from payrolls as they prepared for the end of the government’s furlough scheme.There were 156,000 fewer young people in employment in the three months to July, according to new data.Some 695,000 UK workers have disappeared from the payrolls of British companies since March, when the coronavirus lockdown began.The government’s Job Retention Scheme will begin tapering off next month before ending on 31 October.ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said that there had been some signs that the economy “reopened” in July as the likes of restaurants, pubs and hairdressers were allowed to trade again.”Nonetheless, with the number of employees on the payroll down again in August and both unemployment and redundancies sharply up in July, it is clear that coronavirus is still having a big impact on the world of work,” he said.Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics research group said he expected “employment will fall more sharply and unemployment will increase more quickly as the furlough scheme continues to unwind and ceases at the end of October,” Unfortunately this is the start of the official unemployment numbers starting to go up, just ahead of the furlough scheme being phased out. Previously, the official numbers had shown little change because of the government’s wage subsidy scheme.But in the three months to July, the unemployment rate went up to 4.1%. While this is still low by historic and international standards, it is also worth looking at more timely data. That rheadline jump is over three months but was driven by a more considerable increase of 0.5% solely in July to 4.4%.Digging a little deeper shows a jump to 4.8% in the final week of July and this is before the Job Retention Scheme begins its wind down.This is the start of what economists and academics expect will be a sustained rise. The good news for now is that so far the vast bulk of previously furloughed workers appear to have gone back to their jobs. The other very notable feature is that the overall three month average rise in unemployment, while still small, was in large part the result of young people losing their jobs.There were 152,299 fewer 16-24 year olds in employment, when other working age groups saw rises. Of the 104,000 increase in the number of unemployed versus a year ago, 76,000 were in the 16-24 year old age range.Redundancies also went up to their highest level since the aftermath of the financial crisis. Employment remained at a record however, and hours worked and vacancies showed a small recovery from massive falls during lockdown. So the climb has started slowly. The concern is exactly where this now goes. The government and the Bank of England are likely to wait until August’s figures.’It was the push I needed’Orrean Jacob recently lost the job he had done for nine years, working at the Mini car factory in Oxford as an agency worker.”They decided to let people go, and I was one of them,” he says. Hundreds of workers at the plant were affected.”It really hurt. When you go to work, it’s not just about the money or pay. It’s about making something of yourself, making friends and making connections.”Although he found himself in a similar position to many others during the pandemic, a phone call with a friend presented him with an opportunity. They recommended he get in touch with the HS2 rail project about their one-week training programmes.By the end of the following week, he was fully licensed to be on-site and drive a forklift, having completed a course worth about £1,000 with one of HS2’s sub-contractors.”This was just the push I needed in the right direction – to find something new, to find a new path to pursue because the other one clearly wasn’t working.”Have you lost your job as a result of the coronavirus pandemic? Share your experiences by emailing [email protected] include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says the Covid-19 pandemic has pulled the region’s developing economies into recession. It is the first time in six decades that “developing Asia” – a designation that includes 45 countries – has seen a regional slump. The ADB says developing Asia’s economy will shrink by 0.7% in 2020. But the region is expected to rebound strongly in 2021, growing by 6.8% next year.The bank’s Asian Development Outlook Update shows about three-quarters of the region’s economies are forecast to slump this year. It revises down its earlier projection of a paltry 0.1% growth in the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) for 2020.”Most economies in the Asia and Pacific region can expect difficult growth path for the rest of 2020,” ADB chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada said in a statement. The ADB’s assessment brings the lender into line with the International Monetary Fund, which made a similar prediction earlier this year. Coronavirus: Asia’s ‘shining star’ suffers biggest ever slump
India coronavirus: Gold rush as pandemic roils country’s economy
South Asia is likely to be the worst affected, while China is bucking the trend. India’s economy is expected to contract 9% this year, while China’s growth is forecast at 1.8 percent. Southeast Asia is likely to see a drop of 3.8%. Tourism-dependent island economies, in particular, have seen wrenching economic contractions. Fiji’s economy is expected to shrink by 19.5%, while the Maldives is likely to see a 20.5% contraction. The good news is that the region is expected to recover next year, with growth of 6.8%. China’s economy is expected to rebound by 7.7% in 2021, while India will also bounce back with 8% growth next year, the ADB says. But the bank warns that a recovery could be derailed by a prolonged pandemic and tougher containment measures. “The economic threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic remains potent, as extended first waves or recurring outbreaks could prompt further containment measures,” Mr Sawada said.

The taxpayer will have guaranteed nearly £70bn in loans to UK businesses by March 2021, according to new industry estimates.But the expected bill for bad loans to UK firms has fallen from £30bn to “only” £20bn, according to TheCityUK.The group says that better-than-expected economic growth has seen cost estimates of government guaranteed loans shrink.Firms’ appetite to take on new debt has also been hit by Covid-19, it says.Research from the banking industry lobby group also suggests that the toll on jobs from businesses going bust will be significantly lower: it has halved its initial three million job loss prediction to one and a half million.However, it says that the number of businesses likely to find it difficult to repay their loans has risen from 30% to nearly 40%. The research is part of a campaign on the part of lending industry to encourage the government to convert “unrepayable” debt to a student loans-type scheme, where Covid-19 related loans could be deferred until a business is back on a more secure financial footing.The downward direction of bad loans is likely to confirm government instincts to avoid deferring these debt repayments. That would be a mistake, according to the lending industry: “The expected high levels of unsustainable debt will continue to be a heavy drag on economic recovery.”Or, as insiders put it: “We are in danger of creating a new generation of zombie companies who cannot grow from under their pile of debt.”TheCityUK was also keen to stress that at the time their data was collected, the economy was rebounding as coronavirus-related restrictions were eased.It warned that the impact of recent new directives and the upcoming end of the government’s furlough scheme could see the pile of “unrepayable” debt start to grow again.