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Great Britain is in a wave of layoffs

2020-09-14T15:49:49.693Z


Corona and Brexit chaos are weighing on the British economy. According to a study, the country is in its biggest labor market crisis for many years. Researchers are calling for political action to be taken.


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Campaign by workers in the UK: "SOS for jobs"

Photo: 

Mark Thomas / i-Images / imago images / i Images

The redundancies announced are said to be twice as high as during the recession after the financial crisis of 2008/09: The labor market in Great Britain is in a deep crisis.

At least 650,000 people are likely to lose their jobs between July and December 2020, according to the independent research organization Institute for Employment Studies in London.

Employee representatives from the automotive and aviation industries vented their anger at the planned job cuts in front of parliament a few days ago.

Under the motto "SOS for our jobs" they demonstrated in front of the British Parliament for the preservation of professional livelihoods.

They called for the workers who helped build the country not to be "abandoned".

With its investigation, the research organization is now destroying many of these hopes.

"Unfortunately, much of this restructuring now seems inevitable," the study said.

Rather, the institute advises the government to take countermeasures - for example by lowering employment costs.

Sectors and areas that are viable in the long term could also receive "targeted" wage subsidies.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has so far opposed calls for an extension of the Corona program to secure jobs, which is due to expire at the end of October.

Employers' organizations are pushing him to cut social security contributions in order to mitigate the expected rise in unemployment.

But even if he did, a rapid regeneration of the British economy is unlikely.

Economic output collapsed by more than a fifth in the spring quarter.

For comparison: The German gross domestic product fell by 9.7 percent, less than half as much.

And the recovery here is also likely to be more sluggish than in Germany, for example.

Economic recovery is slowing

The British economy continues to recover, as growth data and production figures from industry show.

According to the ONS statistics office, economic output (GDP) rose by 6.6 percent in August compared to July, but the recovery has slowed.

Compared to February, when the Corona restrictions were not yet in force, economic output is still 11.7 percent lower.

Economists see the greatest growth risk for Great Britain, alongside the continuation of the corona pandemic, in the risk of the island leaving the European domestic market in a disorderly manner.

Such a "no-deal" Brexit without a new trade agreement with the EU threatens towards the end of the year when the transition period after Great Britain leaves the EU expires.

Not only have the negotiations between the British and the EU barely progressed for months.

The British government recently hardened the front lines with a new law that disregards parts of the exit agreement with the EU.

Expert: "Britain threatens to lose control of the virus"

In addition: In view of the sharp rise in the number of corona infections in Great Britain, a leading British health expert recently sounded the alarm.

"It has to be said that we are beginning to lose control of the virus," said the head of the state research and innovation institute UKRI, Mark Walport, the broadcaster BBC at the weekend.

On Friday there had been more than 3,500 confirmed new infections in the UK - as many as last time in mid-May.

The recommendation contradicts Prime Minister Boris Johnson's recent call for the British to return to their offices to get the economy going again.

Former government advisor Walport advised, however, to continue working from home if possible.

This week, the British government again decided to take stricter measures to curb the spread of the virus: From Monday, a maximum of six people will be allowed to meet in England.

In regional Corona hotspots such as the city of Birmingham, even stricter rules apply.

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apr / Reuters / dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2020-09-14

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