Redundancies in the South West hit a record high in October as Covid-19 forced thousands into unemployment.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that around 33,000 people in the region were made redundant in the three months to October - up from 12,000 between May and July.
It was also up from 6,000 redundancies between February and April, and 12,000 between last November and January. It is the highest number seen since records began.
The figure is even higher than the levels seen in 2009 - after the global financial crisis. The previous record was seen between July and September this year, when 27,000 people were estimated to have been made redundant.
National figures show the increase in redundancies was fuelled by job losses in retail, manufacturing and hospitality in particular.
Across the UK, 370,000 people were made redundant between August and October - up by 252,000 people from just 118,000 redundancies in the same period of 2019, and also the highest on record.
The wholesale, retail and repair of motor vehicles industry saw the highest number of redundancies in the last three months, at 68,000, or 18 per cent of the total. It was followed by manufacturing (55,000) and accommodation and food services (41,000).
However, when compared with the number of people who work in each industry, the rate of redundancy was highest for those in accommodation and food service, with 28 for every 1,000 employees.
The human health and social work industry saw the lowest rate of redundancy at three for every 1,000 workers (14,000 job losses in total).
The ONS said there were positive signs regarding the trend of job cutting, however, with the number easing towards the end of October.
Separate figures from the Business Impact of Coronavirus Survey show that between October 19 and November 1, one in 14 businesses (seven per cent) expected to make redundancies in the following three months. That was an improvement compared to one in 11 ( nine per cent) recorded in the previous week.
Frances O'Grady, Trades Union Congress general secretary, said: “We are staring down the barrel of mass unemployment. There’s no time left to waste.
“Ministers must step up and create jobs. We could create 1.8 million new jobs in the next two years in green transport and infrastructure, and by unlocking public sector vacancies.
“Confusion around the future of the furlough scheme means many workers are losing their jobs unnecessarily. We need a guarantee that support will continue.
“And people who have lost their jobs must get the support they need to make ends meet. We need an urgent boost to Universal Credit or many face being plunged into poverty.”
In addition to the already dramatic number of redundancies, a recent report by the Commission on Workers and Technology found that the Covid-19 crisis is accelerating a workplace technology change.
According to the report, this translates to more than half of furloughed jobs in the UK being at risk of automation.
It found that some 61 per cent of jobs furloughed in the first half of 2020 were in sectors that had a higher risk of automation, which could see workers replaced by technology and putting more than three million furloughed workers at risk.
