Image copyright Getty Images The UK unemployment rate has risen to its highest level for almost two years, official figures show. The unemployment rate grew to 4.1% in the three months to July, compared with 3.9% previously. Young people were particularly hard-hit, with those aged 16 to 24 suffering the biggest drop in employment compared with other age groups. Firms… Read more →
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A number of household names have announced redundancy plans since the pandemic began Employers in Britain are planning more than twice as many redundancies than they did at the height of the last recession, new figures show. About 180,000 job cuts were planned from January to March 2009, while 380,000 were planned from May… Read more →
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The US economy added more jobs last month The US unemployment rate fell sharply in August, as some firms began to hire new staff again and temporary hiring for the US census boosted job numbers. Firms added 1.4 million new jobs and unemployment fell below 10% for the first time since the pandemic began.… Read more →
The number of people out of work in Wales has fallen slightly over the last three months, according to the latest official figures. There are now 41,000 across Wales unemployed, suggests the Office for National Statistics. It is an unemployment rate of 2.7% compared to the UK-wide rate of 3.9% for the period of March to May. However, the figures… Read more →
Image copyright AFP Image caption Lockdown forced many businesses, such as non-essential retail and restaurants, to temporarily close Economic output in Northern Ireland continued to decline in June but at a much slower rate, an Ulster Bank survey has suggested. The bank conducts a monthly survey of a representative sample of about 200 firms. In April and May the survey… Read more →
Image copyright Dan Mullan A record fall in fuel prices, including petrol, pushed the UK’s inflation rate down to 0.5% in May, the second full month of the coronavirus lockdown. Fuel prices declined by 16.7% during the month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, dragging the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to the lowest level since June 2016. Clothing and… Read more →
Image copyright Getty Images Inflation affects everything from mortgages to the cost of our shopping and the price of train tickets. In April, UK inflation hit its lowest since August 2016 as the economic fallout of the coronavirus lockdown hit prices. But what exactly is inflation and what impact does it have? What is inflation? Inflation is the rate at… Read more →
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption New York, the US financial capital, is also one of the US hotspots for the coronavirus The US unemployment rate has risen to 14.7%, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April, as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the economy. The rise means the jobless rate is now worse than at any time since the Great… Read more →