The pandemic has created a middle-class unemployment crisis that will get ‘much worse’ as Christmas approaches, experts warn.
Analysis reveals the extent of the jobs bloodbath in commuter towns, resorts and manufacturing hubs.
The number on the dole has already tripled in the hardest-hit towns and cities.
In the ten worst-affected areas there are 138,000 on out-of-work benefits – 75,000 more than before the pandemic.
The pandemic has created a middle-class unemployment crisis that will get ‘much worse’ as Christmas approaches, experts warn
The analysis by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) raises fears that even well-off communities will become job wastelands as they are hammered by the coronavirus recession.
It reveals the hardest hit areas include Slough, Luton and Peterborough as well as affluent seaside resorts such as Brighton.
Economists predict that a million jobs will be lost in the next nine weeks after the furlough scheme ends on Saturday.
Doug McWilliams, CEBR’s deputy chairman, said: ‘The middle class is likely to get hit much worse as we go on. A lot of management jobs have gone, a lot of professional jobs have gone, and some specialist ones. The middle classes have a jobs crisis – their pensions are squeezed and house prices will be lower.’
The gloomy figures are drawn from Office for National Statistics data showing the increase in the claimant count in the 12 months to September 10. This combines those claiming Universal Credit who are looking for work and those on the Job-Seekers’ Allowance.
The CEBR has pinpointed the ten hardest-hit cities and towns, which have suffered from the virus’s impact on sectors of the economy such as aviation, manufacturing, hospitality and tourism.
Rhe hardest hit areas include Slough (pictured), Luton and Peterborough as well as affluent seaside resorts such as Brighton
The analysis excludes London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool – which currently have 635,440 claiming out of work benefits, up from 250,985 a year ago – to focus on the economic devastation in towns and regional cities, which typically find it harder to recover from recessions.
In Slough, which is heavily reliant on Heathrow, the number looking for work has more than tripled in a year from 2.6 per cent of the working age population to 8.5 per cent, or from 2,510 to 8,100.
In Luton, Easyjet’s headquarters, the number has risen from 4,025 to 11,690. Tougher coronavirus rules announced last week will hit several regions highlighted.
Local leaders in Blackpool, now subject to the harshest Tier Three restrictions, say the resort is facing ‘the equivalent of three winters in a row’.
Like Brighton the town has suffered from a sharp fall in visitors.
Northampton is one of several manufacturing hubs to shed thousands of jobs, while the number out of work in Wolverhampton has risen from 9,645 to 17,280 after Jaguar Land Rover and aerospace giant Collins slashed jobs.
Since March tens of thousands of jobs have disappeared in professional consultancy, aviation, events, the arts and travel.
Small independent high street businesses are having to shed staff as shoppers order online. Covid restrictions threaten to kill off bars, pubs and hotels, hitting thousands of small suppliers. Theatres, music venues and galleries have shed staff, while the National Trust has made 1,300 redundant.
Last week Chancellor Rishi Sunak expanded his winter jobs scheme. Before his announcement economists were predicting unemployment, currently 1.5million, or 4.5 per cent, would exceed 2.5million by Christmas.
Last night there were calls for targeted government support for the worst-affected areas. Simon Clarke, Tory MP for Middlesbrough South, said: ‘We’ve been left behind for 40 years. We need game-changing investment.’
Paul Maynard, Tory MP for Blackpool North, said: ‘Any economy which is seasonal is now facing the equivalent of three winters in a row.’
Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove, said: ‘The Treasury must provide more effective support to prevent towns like Brighton being left behind for a generation.’
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