Unemployment rate jumps to 4.5 percent in three months

The jobless rate in the United Kingdom has jumped to 4.5 percent in three months even before the end of the government’s broad coronavirus job protection plan.

According to the details, the economist had projected a 4.3 percent rise jobless rate, however, the data showed a more grim situation in the UK.

The rate was 0.6 percentage points higher than a year earlier and 0.4 percentage points above the previous quarter.

An estimated 1.52 million were unemployed in three months. That was an increase of 209,000 from a year earlier and 138,000 above the previous quarter.

Rishi Sunak on Jobless Rate

The UK Finance minister Rishi Sunak restated on Tuesday that his priority remained to slow the rising job losses although he is replacing his 50-billion-pound wage subsidy scheme which expires at the end of this month with a less generous programme.

“I’ve been honest with people from the start that we would unfortunately not be able to save every job,” he said.

There have been more than 37 million confirmed cases of coronavirus across the globe since the pandemic began. More than one million people are known to have died.

While hundreds of vaccines are currently under development, with a number in advanced trials, none has yet received international approval.