More than 600,000 lose work in UK as COVID hits jobs market

The number of people on British employers’ payrolls fell by more than 600,000 in April and May as the coronavirus lockdown hit the labour market, and vacancies plunged by the most on record, data showed on Tuesday. The jobless rate unexpectedly held at 3.9% over the three months to April, but that was largely due to the government’s huge job retention scheme and a rise in the number of people not classed as unemployed as they were unable to seek work in lockdown. During the same period there was a record slump in Britain’s overall economic output. Economists polled by Reuters had mostly expected a jump in the unemployment rate to 4.7%.