MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) The United Kingdom's unemployment rate rose to five percent between September and November, hitting this mark for the first time in four years, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause economic disruption, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a fresh report on Tuesday.
Over the three months up to November, unemployment sat at 5.0 percent, a 0.6 percentage point rise from the preceding quarter and a 1.2 percentage rise year-on-year, the ONS said.
The UK's employment rate also dropped 1.1 percent from the preceding quarter to 75.2 percent, the statistical body said.
"In the three months to November, on our survey data, the employment rate fell sharply again, while the unemployment rate rose to hit 5% for the first time in over four years," Sam Beckett, head of economic statistics at ONS, said.
Beckett also noted that the number of people being made redundant remains at a record high and the number of available job vacancies is falling.
According to ONS data, there were 828,000 fewer employees on payroll in December compared to February, before the onset of the coronavirus disease pandemic.
Speaking in parliament back in November, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the country's GDP is expected to contract by 11.3 percent in 2020 due to the disruption caused by the health crisis.
