{"id":134575,"date":"2021-02-25T12:55:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T11:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=134575"},"modified":"2021-02-25T12:55:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T11:55:46","slug":"covid-19-weekly-economy-summary-25-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/covid-19-weekly-economy-summary-25-february\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: Weekly Economy Summary \u2013 25 February"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Economy Summary is part of our Weekly COVID-19 Bulletin, sent every Thursday. You can\u00a0sign up to receive your copy here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rate of unemployment in the UK rose to 5.1% in the three months to December, official figures showed<\/a> this week. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 1.74m people were unemployed in the October to December period, up 454,000 from the same quarter in 2019. The figures show 726,000 fewer people are currently in payrolled employment than before the start of the pandemic, almost three-fifths of this fall, 425,000, has come from those aged under-25.<\/p>\n

A report<\/a> from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research has shown an explosion in the number of people \u2018living in destitution\u2019, putting pressure on Chancellor Rishi Sunak not to abandon support schemes in next month\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

The report has shown the total has risen from 197,400 to 421,500 households in 2020, suggesting the crisis would worsen if the Chancellor ends the furlough scheme or cuts Universal Credit. It also showed stark regional disparities and warned the official unemployment statistics are failing to reflect reality.<\/p>\n

\u2018As a result of lockdowns, levels of destitution seem to be rising across the country,\u2019 Professor Jagjit Chadha, the NIESR\u2019s director commented. He added: \u2018The kind of unemployment numbers we\u2019ve currently got seem to be underreporting the true level of unemployment. Given the level of activity we\u2019ve had in the economy \u2013 the extent to which it\u2019s fallen \u2013 unemployment could rise to at least 8% or 9%, or even further.\u2019<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the Budget on 3 March, Keir Starmer has called<\/a> for the introduction of Covid recovery bonds, which could raise billions of pounds for the National Infrastructure Bank and would give financial security to millions, many of whom have saved for the first time. Keir Starmer also explained how he would directly help to create 100,000 small businesses across the country over the next five years by boosting funding for start-up loans.<\/p>\n

During the Labour party\u2019s first opposition day debate this week, Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds demanded<\/a> U-turns on the planned cut to Universal Credit, the council tax hike being forced on councils and the public sector pay freeze.<\/p>\n

During the second opposition day debate, Labour\u2019s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Bridget Phillipson, called<\/a>\u00a0on the Government to support businesses and individuals still struggling as a result of the coronavirus crisis in the forthcoming budget by:<\/p>\n