Around 700,000 people may be rendered jobless in the UK, as the Government’s furlough programme is about to end in October. As per the furlough initiative, the Government has paid up to 80 per cent of the salaries of over nine million people. As required by the Government, organisations have to notify of any job cuts over 20. In the three months from May to July, notifications pertaining to almost 3,80,000 job redundancies have come in.
Studies have shown that employment had been dipping steadily last month too. In many regions, such as Yorkshire and Scotland the employment reduced drastically.
While last year, only about 345 organisations had plans to slash jobs, in June 2020, about 1,778 companies expressed intentions to slash over 1,39,000 jobs in the UK. The retail space alone has witnessed more than 1,25,000 layoffs from January to August 2020, with about 13,867 stores being closed for good.
While the pressure continues for the furlough scheme to be extended, the finance ministry is contemplating ways to help people effectively, without further worsening the debt situation of the Government.
Meanwhile, some relief has come by way of Amazon’s announcement to create about 7,000 jobs in the UK. The retail giant has already hired 3,000 people this year, and expects to take this number up to 10,000 by the end of the year. By doing so, its workforce strength in the UK will increase to over 40,000. The Company is also looking to hire 20,000 people for temporary or seasonal roles ahead of the festive season.
