As many parts of Britain went into lockdown to combat the spread of the virus, unemployment numbers rose sharply. The most recent unemployment rate - for August to October - was 4.9%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That is an increase of 0.7% over the previous three months, and means that 1.69 million people were unemployed.
However, this number is always based on surveys taken in previous months and is not completely up to date. Some of the data was gathered in August when infection rates were low, and large parts of the economy had reopened. The ONS also gathers weekly figures, which show unemployment rising in October, as coronavirus restrictions were tightened around the country.
This suggests the official unemployment rate is likely to be higher in coming months. Businesses such as shops, bars, travel and entertainment companies have had to close because of coronavirus lockdowns. Many have decided that they can't afford to keep all their workers, and have them redundant. That is why there was a record number of redundancies - 370,000 - in the period from August to October.
The number of redundancies would have been much higher if the government hadn't spent tens of billions of pounds on schemes to support jobs. The biggest was the furlough scheme, where government pays most of a workers' wages when their employer cannot. The generosity of the furlough scheme was cut from August onwards, with employers being asked to contribute gradually more. This encouraged some businesses to make staff redundant instead of keeping them on furlough.
October was meant to be the last month of furlough, but after an England-wide lockdown was announced in November, it was extended for five more months, which will help to keep unemployment from soaring this winter.
