What has changed?

Jobs have been at risk as whole sectors have been shut down and activity has contracted since February 2020. 

• Fewer young people are in work: There were an estimated 695,000 fewer paid employees in the UK in August 2020 compared with March 2020. Most notably, the number of people under 25 years old in employment has fallen significantly. 

• Many people working in hospitality, the arts and the construction sector still have restrictions placed on their work: By the end of June, 9.4 million employees had been placed on furlough since the Job Retention Scheme was introduced. People in small and micro-businesses and those under the age of 17 were more likely to have been furloughed.
  
  Seventy three percent of employees in the accommodation and food services sector, 66% in arts, recreation and entertainment, and 59% in construction had been furloughed. Five million remained on furlough in July 2020, with 2.5 million of these having been away for three months or more. There were also around 250,000 people away from work (people who felt like they were still employed, but weren’t working, or qualifying for furlough) because of the pandemic and receiving no pay in July 2020.

• Employees with the lowest incomes, disabled people and those of Black and Asian ethnicity have been most affected by reduced hours, furlough or job loss: Nearly two in three (65%) of those employed prior to the Covid-19 crisis who were already in deep poverty have had their working hours or earnings reduced, or been furloughed, or lost their job. This compares to one in three (35%) who were employed - and sat at 20% or above the poverty line - prior to the Covid-19 crisis. Employed disabled people were 4 percentage points more likely to have experienced a negative outcome than non-disabled people. Those of Black and Asian ethnicity were more likely than white people.

Formal paid employment can conflict with unpaid care work commitments, which have also been affected by Covid-19.

Caring responsibilities

• Parents were nearly twice as likely to be furloughed (13.6%) as those without children (7.2%) during lockdown. 

• Mothers are more likely than fathers to have left paid work since February. Among mothers and fathers who are still in paid work, mothers have seen a bigger proportional reduction in hours of work than fathers. Among those doing paid work at home, mothers are more likely than fathers to be spending their work hours simultaneously trying to care for children.

• Many carers are providing more care than before. The need for self-isolation or shielding, closure of local services, and reduced support from social care providers, have had a particularly powerful knock on effect for carers. They are impacted financially and are worried about the future.

The nature of our work, our commute, and workplace have also changed:

• In April 2020, 46.6% of people in employment did some work at home, enabling people to maintain employment, while being less exposed to Covid-19 risks. Workers who earn more tend to work in jobs with more scope for home working, whilst frontline workers were the least likely to be able to work from home.

• Key workers, unable to work from home, face risks of exposure to Covid-19. A third of Black people and people of minority ethnicities were working outside their home during lockdown (33%). This is compared with almost a quarter of white people (27%). Just under three in ten Black and ethnic minority people (28%) were categorised as key workers. Greater proportions of Black people, and other minority ethnicity key workers (32%) reported that they were not given adequate PPE, compared with their white counterparts (20%).