Rollin coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Introduction: UK unemployment picture is worsening
- Unemployment rate up to 4.8% – highest since 2016
- 314,000 people made redundant in last quarter- worst ever
- Economists: Furlough scheme winddown pushed up job losses
- The key charts
Here’s our economics editor Larry Elliott on the UK’s worsening unemployment situation:
The government’s furlough scheme and a recovering economy failed to prevent record redundancies in the period before tougher lockdown restrictions were imposed, according to the latest official data.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that a record 314,000 people lost their job in the three months to September – a period in which the Treasury’s wage subsidy scheme became less generous.
Related: UK redundancies hit record before second Covid lockdown
The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 has also nudged higher this morning, after hitting an eight-month high last night:
