COVID Crisis: 1.9mln People in UK 'Have Not Worked for More than Six Months' - Tasnim News Agency

Almost 2 million people in Britain have not worked for more than six months during the coronavirus pandemic, amid growing risk to workers from long-term economic damage caused by the crisis.

The Resolution Foundation said up to 1.9 million people in January had either been out of a job or on full furlough for more than six months, revealing the lasting impact on employment caused by COVID and multiple lockdowns, The Guardian reported.

Highlighting the risks to workers from long-term unemployment, it called on the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to use next month’s budget to extend targeted support for sectors of the economy hardest hit by the crisis.

The report warned that while the outlook for the economy was steadily improving thanks to the vaccination programme and as the government prepares to roll back COVID restrictions, many workers remained concerned about their job prospects.

Redundancies are rising at the fastest rate on record, and the Treasury’s independent economics forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, expects unemployment to hit 2.6 million by the middle of the year as the furlough scheme is wound down.

The scheme, which has cost almost £50bn and subsidized the wages of almost 9m jobs at its peak in May last year, is due to close at the end of April. About 4.5m jobs are furloughed during the current lockdown, according to the Resolution Foundation.

According to the study, 8% of workers currently employed either expect to lose their jobs in the next three months, or have been told they would be made redundant. This figure rises to 21% among those who have been furloughed for at least six months of the crisis.