Commuter towns and seaside resorts are bearing the brunt with a MILLION more people facing the dole before Christmas after furlough scheme ends this weekend, economic experts warn
The pandemic has created a middle-class unemployment crisis that will get ‘much worse’ as Christmas approaches, experts warn.
Analysis reveals the extent of the jobs bloodbath in commuter towns, resorts and manufacturing hubs.
The number on the dole has already tripled in the hardest-hit towns and cities.
In the ten worst-affected areas there are 138,000 on out-of-work benefits – 75,000 more than before the pandemic.
The analysis by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) raises fears that even well-off communities will become job wastelands as they are hammered by the coronavirus recession.
It reveals the hardest hit areas include Slough, Luton and Peterborough as well as affluent seaside resorts such as Brighton.
Economists predict that a million jobs will be lost in the next nine weeks after the furlough scheme ends on Saturday.
Doug McWilliams, CEBR’s deputy chairman, said: ‘The middle class is likely to get hit much worse as we go on. A lot of management jobs have gone, a lot of professional jobs have gone, and some specialist ones. The middle classes have a jobs crisis – their pensions are squeezed and house prices will be lower.’