Will more economic inactivity be a legacy of the pandemic?
Economic inactivity has increased over the pandemic, due mainly to illness and people staying in or entering education.
The start of the pandemic caused high unemployment, low vacancies and falling wages, but since then a combination of lockdowns, the furlough scheme, remote working and the unequal impacts of the pandemic has meant new and sometimes puzzling trends in the labour market.
This Insight series examines how the labour market changed in different lockdown periods and answers questions such as: who entered and left the labour market and why? What did lockdowns mean for wages? Which industries were most affected? And what will the legacy of the furlough scheme be?
We also discuss what the labour market might look like over 2022 and the forecasted fall in wages.
The UK labour market during the Covid-19 pandemic
Insights on the UK labour market during the pandemic
-
-
What happened to wages in the coronavirus pandemic?
What happened to wages in Great Britain during each stage of the pandemic and what is the outlook for real wages in 2022?
-
Examining the end of the furlough scheme
Who used the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, how successful was it, and who is likely to be most affected by it ending?
-
How has the pandemic affected industries?
Industries in the UK are experiencing the effects of the pandemic in different ways. What are the reasons for changes in employment levels and job vacancies?
Coronavirus research
Read the latest coronavirus (Covid-19) research and analysis from the Commons Library and other parliamentary research services.