The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today released new figures showing the jobless rate has risen to 5.1 per cent.  Julian Jessop, IEA Economics Fellow, was quoted in the Evening Standard saying that the unemployment figures are not as bad as some commentators feared, suggesting that “Once the brakes are taken off, the economy is likely to bounce back quickly“.

Jessop added that any extension to furlough pay beyond the lifting of restrictions was unnecessary: “Extending the furlough scheme much beyond the summer would therefore be both costly and counterproductive. It would lock people into jobs that are no longer viable and delay the adjustment to the ‘new normal’, whatever that may be“.

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