Figures from the Office Of National Statistics show that 5.1% of people across Yorkshire and the Humber are currently unemployed. This is the first time these figures have risen above 5% across the UK since 2016. Many economists expect this figure to continue to rise this year as we still battle against Coronavirus.

Back in March 2020, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced the Job Retention Scheme. This meant that  “Government grants will cover 80% of the salary retained workers up to a total of £2,500 a month”  enabling many people to retain their jobs and businesses staying in business. It is thanks to this scheme, and the rapid roll out of vaccines,  that many jobs have been protected, and will continue to be protected as furloughing will continue until July of this year.
Despite the government’s unprecedented support, millions of people have been left unemployed as businesses have had to close or let go of staff members.

Katherine Mendes, 58 from Barnsely,  was a PA at a law firm in Leeds for over 10 years before the pandemic meant she was made redundant.
Ms Mendes said she was “quite surprised to see how little opportunities there were out there” when she started her job search after taking some time out during the first wave of the pandemic, believing it would only be for a few weeks.

“It was initially demoralising because I was sending my CV off for jobs and not even getting an acknowledgement” Katherine said of her struggle to search for a new job.

Data from the Office Of National Statistics shows a rapid decrease of job vacancies from the first lockdown which started in March 2020. Although the number of job vacancies has started to increase, the effects of this pandemic are set to be visible over the years to come.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma lead today’s briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The official death toll has risen by 627 to 32,692.

Mr Sharma began by going through the new alert system that will determine the social distancing measures in England. He thanked the British people for their “hard work and sacrifices” and said it was down their contributions that we are now able to take steps towards level three.

Businesses will need to operate in new ways to stay safe and the government has published new guidance to help them do this. Sharma went on to say the guidance would help businesses implement social distance in the workplace. 

Sharma suggested that workplaces could use barriers, fixed teams and frequent cleaning of work areas and equipment to help control the spread. Up to £14million has been made available to the Health and Safety Executive for extra call centre employers, inspectors and equipment if needed. 

The secretary then went on to highlight the development to the governments furlough scheme, which has been extended by four months today. 

Paul Rodgerson employs bar staff at the local working men’s club. He expressed concern about the government not meeting their targets for the ease of lockdown.

“If the government don’t meet their targets, we won’t be able to re-open. I’m concerned that we’re taking radical steps now and we’ll see a massive spike again”

“If we can’t re-open, we won’t be able to support our workers if the government keep this scheme in place”

“I think that the priority right now needs to be getting us a stage where the virus is controlled before we start to re-open. If we try to do too much too soon, we’ll just be back to where we were in March.”