Low-paid workers, young people and women are most likely to have lost work in Britain due to the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus lockdown, researchers said on Monday. Before the pandemic, about one in seven British employees worked in sectors that have largely or entirely shut down, with those who were already vulnerable worst hit, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank.
Millions of people in Britain have lost jobs or income as a nationwide lockdown forces many non-essential businesses including restaurants, cultural venues and non-food shops to close their doors.People who were already scraping by on low wages were about seven times more likely than high earners to have worked in one of the sectors worst hit, according to the think tank’s analysis of official labour force survey data.
Women aged under 25 were among those worst affected, with more than one in three previously employed in sectors that have largely or totally shut down. Overall, young workers were more than twice as likely to be impacted by coronavirus-linked shutdowns, while women of all ages were about a third more likely to be affected than men. The data comes after Britain saw a huge spike in the number of people applying for the main Universal Credit state benefits in the first two weeks of the lockdown and food banks warned they were preparing for a surge in demand.
The impact of job losses for many young and low-waged workers could be cushioned as they are more likely to live with parents or other household members with higher earnings who may be able to support them, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said. The Young Women’s Trust, a charity, said it was unsurprising that job losses were having a disproportionately large impact on young women in low-paid work.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
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