The ONS (Office of National Statistics) has today released the unemployment figures  covering the three month period to August, showing a rise of close to  ½ % . The rate which is the highest for three years but won't be for much longer, is 4.5% up from 4.1 % in the last quarter.

 Young and self-employed workers are being hit very hard, many of them involved in the hospitality industry that is having such a tough time throughout the pandemic.

Without the various Government initiatives in place, the figures would be much worse and most economists feel that its only a matter of time before they could be double this figure.  Earlier in the year forecasters were looking at end of year 2020 unemployment figures getting closer to 8%, with most job related support having done the job up to October.  It still looks on the cards.... But with extensions to the furlough and loan schemes recently announced and the Government doing its best to kick start an economy running out of fuel, this looks like something we can sadly look forward to in 2021.  A lot of charts are predicting a bounce off of a high of 10% possibly first half of 2021, settling close to where we are now towards the end of next year