Modelling by the Centre for Economics and Business Research shows the direct cost of the single day’s action will be £94m, with a further estimated £100m hit to hospitality sectors as footfall vanishes
Britain will be plunged into an effective “mini lockdown” on Wednesday as half a million workers go on strike and millions of others are forced to stay at home due to the mass walkouts.
Economists estimate that the effect of the teaching, rail and civil service strikes, with multiple services being down, will have direct and indirect costs to the UK economy of hundreds of millions of pounds from just a single day.
Business chiefs urged Rishi Sunak to resolve the deadlock with unions over multiple disputes “as a priority” to save further costs to the UK economy – which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast will go into recession this year.
The collective economic effects from the strikes will be “particularly difficult to manage”, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said.
Latest modelling from the Centre for Economics and Business Research shows that the total direct cost of the single day’s strike action in rail, education and the civil service will be £94m – making it the costliest day of action across the whole eight-month strike period.
This includes £68m from lost working days by those on strike and £26m from work absences from those who rely on the train network to commute to their place of work and cannot work from home.
This figure does not take into account the effects of parents taking time off work during school closures and the consequential reduced retail and hospitality footfall.