UK Unemployment Dips Ahead Of Furlough Ending

British unemployment dipped in July as the economy reopened further, official data showed Tuesday, but the outlook remains clouded with the government's furlough jobs support scheme ending soon

London, Sept 14 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2021 ) :British unemployment dipped in July as the economy reopened further, official data showed Tuesday, but the outlook remains clouded with the government's furlough jobs support scheme ending soon.

Unemployment dropped to 4.6 percent in the three months to the end of July compared with 4.7 percent in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

Vacancies are meanwhile at a record high with certain sectors including road haulage and hospitality seriously affected by a shortage of staff owing to the virus outbreak and Brexit.

At the same time, the number of UK workers on payrolls has rebounded above pre-pandemic levels, the ONS added Tuesday.

The UK government's furlough scheme that has kept millions of private sector workers in jobs during the pandemic by paying the bulk of their wages ends on September 30.

"Job creation remained strong over the summer, but the winding down of the furlough scheme at the end of this month will result in the reversal of the... progress," Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said following the latest data.