Figures obtained by the BBC show British employers planned 58,000 redundancies in August.
That’s much lower than for the two previous months thanks to a degree of economic recovery, with more shoppers out spending and the “eat out to help out” scheme boosting restaurants.
It brings total potential job losses to 498,000 for the first five months of the pandemic.
“There was a sense of optimism in August, we were starting to see more spending and more activity, there were hopes for a quick recovery,” said Rebecca McDonald, senior economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation think tank. “That seems a lot less likely now.”
A number of big businesses from many of the hardest-hit sectors, such as retail and restaurants, have announced big redundancy plans, including Debenhams, DW Sports, Marks & Spencer, Pret a Manger, currency exchange company Travelex, and WH Smith.
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