As people of Britain wait with bated breath for the March 3 budget statement, it is expected that Rishi Sunak, finance minister of the UK will continue to extend financial support to help the economy recover.
Sunak is expected to set aside billions of pounds to provide additional aid to help stabilise the economy over the next four months. The unemployment rates in the UK have touched the highest levels in about five years.
As part of the reopening of the economy, some businesses may have to remain closed until June 2021 as has been revealed by the British prime minister. Therefore, financial support will be required even beyond the lockdown measures.
On March 3, it is hoped that jobs support will be announced at least for the sectors that have been most impacted by the pandemic-induced restrictions and lockdown.
Earlier, the Bank of England had predicted a peak unemployment forecast of 7.75 per cent. Some experts feel that the outlook for the British economy is not as bad as expected, with unemployment rate expected to touch six per cent in summer.
The number of vacancies in the November 2020 to January 2021 period was 26 per cent lower than a year ago. This fall is not as drastic as the one last summer when vacancies had dipped by almost 60 per cent.
In fact, pay growth was the strongest since 2008. Total pay, including bonuses went up by 4.7 per cent in the October-December as compared to the same period in 2019.
