The devastation Covid-19 is causing to people’s livelihoods has been laid bare as unemployment rocketed by the biggest amount since records began.
But as the number out of work hit 2.1 million Rishi Sunak warned there would be “more hardship to come”.
Predicting a “severe recession the likes of which we have not yet seen” the Chancellor said there will be no “immediate bounce-back” once lockdown restrictions are eased – despite Boris Johnson ’s optimism.
Some 856,500 people signed up for Universal Credit and Jobseeker’s Allowance in April, driving up overall claims by 69% in a month, the Office for National Statistics said.
It took the total jobless figure above two million for the first time since 1996.
And the rate of increase was the fastest since comparable records began in the 1970s.
Areas which were already among the worst off suffered most, the Institute for Employment Studies said.
Torsten Bell, chief executive of living standards think-tank the Resolution Foundation said it showed “Britain’s jobs crisis has now arrived”.
Calling for more support for young people he urged the Government to “repair our social security safety net” to protect those facing financial ruin.
But Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds warned: “Unfortunately, these claimants will now discover the UK has one of the weakest out-of-work safety nets in the developed world.”
It came as the number of people who have died after testing positive for the virus rose by 545 to 34,341 and figures suggested around 15,000 elderly care home residents have died.
Gordon Brown lashed out at an apparent lack of leadership, with Boris Johnson “hiding” from the public recently.
Mr Johnson, seen returning from a run yesterday, has led the daily Downing Street briefing just twice since going back to work on April 26.
He has given one Commons statement on the pandemic since it began.
While Mr Brown said he would “take into account” the fact Mr Johnson had been ill, he insisted he needed to tell Parliament his strategy for protecting lives and jobs. Mr Brown said: “He has got to get a grip on the testing and he has got to get a grip on what is going to happen to the economy as it moves forward.”
The Government is also facing growing pressure from councils and teaching unions to reconsider plans to open primary schools in England.
Experts have predicted the unemployment rate could eventually hit 10%, up from 3.9%.
And Mr Sunak told the House of Lords Treasury Committee via videolink “the jury is out” on what the economy will look like after the crisis.
“I certainly won’t be able to protect every job and every business,” he said.
“We’re seeing [it] in the data and no doubt there will be more hardship to come. We are likely to face a severe recession the likes of which we have not seen.”
The Institute for Employment Studies said many of the areas worst hit by the rise in unemployment were in the North West of England. In Blackpool, 11% are now “claimant unemployed”, up from 7% in March.
Elsewhere, one in 11 residents are claimant unemployed in Middlesbrough, South Tyneside, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Thanet, Kent.
In another sign of the bleak employment landscape, there was a record fall in job vacancies, down 170,000 to 637,000 in the three months to April.
There are also fears over the effect that increased unemployment will have on the nation’s health.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said a 2% rise could lead to a further one million people developing chronic health conditions.
Unemployment was already on the rise, climbing by 50,000, to 1.35 million in the three months to March.
The number of paid employees plunged by 450,000 at the start of April to 28.6 million but this excluded eight million currently furloughed.
Calling for more support for young people Mr Bell also warned against a sharp cliff-edge end to furlough.
“We must ignore those calling for the scheme’s plaster to be ripped off immediately, which would send unemployment soaring when we’re already on course for levels not seen in 25 years,” he said.
At the Downing Street press conference, Environment Secretary George Eustice urged furloughed workers to “lend a hand” harvesting crops as overseas pickers stay away.
He said: “We need to rely on British workers to help bring that harvest home.”
