The Guardian reported yesterday that eight people are now applying for employment support for every available job vacancy. And this is before the tsunami of unemployment that is going to hit us has really begun to develop.
Also yesterday I got a report back from one person who reads this blog and who had written to their MP on what they were going to do about the world after furlough using the letter I drafted not long ago. That MP had responded saying:
Forty per cent of the workforce in my constituency is on furlough, many of whom are in the hospitality and tourism sector, the two largest sectors of our local economy.
The Government will soon roll back the furlough scheme which I fear will lead to a steep rise in redundancies. We've already seen a 314% increase in unemployment. Universal Credit is, for many, the only option for financial support. While UC provides something, the benefit can be difficult for some to live on ..... [and] the amount a family receives from UC can vary widely case by case.
They added:
I speak to employers and workers pretty much every day about their situation. I write to Government Ministers almost daily. It's important that the Government extends its support packages into next year because the economic and human cost of mass unemployment would hugely outweigh the cost of keeping businesses going into the spring. Specifically, I have been pushing for a bespoke package of support for our two largest local sectors; hospitality and tourism.
I can't name that MP. I do not have their agreement to do so. But they are clearly monitoring what is happening and are trying to do something about it. That's what MPs should be doing rather than parroting party lines. And that MP seems to be doing that because they care and realise the scale of the issue that we are going to face. I wish more did.
I thank the reader who shared that with me. It's good to have a little faith in the body politic restored.
My own MP has yet to respond.
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Our MP is in a similar situation, only it’s 46% on furlough in this constituency, also highly dependent on tourism.
He is also constantly pushing for an extension to the scheme into next year. He has spoken to Ministers in the House and written letters to explain the details of people’s difficulties. No forthcoming concrete response so far.
MPs all over the country must be tearing their hair out. Now they’re back in their constituencies they are being bombarded with requests for help.
Even the most compliant and ambitious must see that without further help, their constituents will be losing trust in them and they will not recover from this at the next elections. It will take years to rebuild the local economies.
Hi Richard,
My brother in law owns a couple of central London pubs and has been a pub manager his working life, c. 35 years. He’s quite accustomed to “fishing” for staff – immediate interviews, etc. as, normally, if he gets 20 applications (which would normally be an excellent response) , only 1 (if he’s lucky) will tip up for interview.
He needed a new bar person last week. Deluged with cvs. Took ad off site after 24 hours as too many applications to process. Called first cv he picked up. Person arrived for interview, suited and booted, got job.
B-i-l says he’s never seen the like. Clearly, in his particular segment of the sector, work is in vanishingly short supply. Not a good indicator.
DM
We can only hope that my suspicion/hope that the Sunak will actually enact a rolling furlough (further the furlough at various points rather than halt it) will be his preferred option.
I work in housing development and we come across staff in our contractor frameworks who have been furloughed or let go all of the time.
Some very good people have lost their jobs because of of the virus – or shall we say – because rather than institute an effective nationwide programme of testing & tracking – Boris panicked and brought in a very indiscriminate lock down – a lockdown that did not protect the NHS because if it had, our cancer patients would have been able to be treated and also effectively destroyed the economy.
Let’s try not to forget stuff like this. Peoples’ lives have ben destroyed and ended (let us not forget our care homes and NHS staff as well as cancer sufferers) by this mis-management.
And to add insult to injury, the man who hollowed out the NHS – Jeremy Hunt no less – now presents himself as the voice of reason when in fact he is just a Tory continuity candidate.
It’s so ironic that if the Tories are to survive electorally they’re going to need the “Nanny State” like there’s no tomorrow! That would be the Nanny State that creates money without liability to others to boost the demand in the economy after the voluntary and involuntary pandemic panicking rush into liquidity (hoarding) by both investors and consumers.
If Margaret Thatcher was in charge today you can bet should be wheeling the Nanny State into action whilst simultaneously thinking up cheap and empty rhetoric to deflect voters from thinking she was. Such is the state of political bullshit that still gets swallowed by a gullible electorate in the UK to this very day!