Express & Star comment: Pandemic has hit the economy hard
The economy has been shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic. Those still in employment find themselves with more in their pockets than they might have imagined as they’ve been less able to spend. There have been no trips to pubs or restaurants and quite definitely no overseas holidays.
That experience, however, is in contrast to the huge numbers who have lost their jobs and find themselves searching for employment in an environment where jobs are extremely scarce. There are many stories about the young and the highly qualified who are sending out scores of applications for positions that already filled.
What unites those in work and the unemployed is this: uncertainty. Work has become a volatile and unstable environment in which those things that were formerly taken for granted can no longer be counted upon.
Even people with extra money in their pocket feel less comfortable and less secure than when than they did in the pre-pandemic era.
The world of work is changing. For some, there will be no return to the office. The speeding up of digital working means some will forever have a commute from the bedroom to the office, to the detriment of the town centre ecosystem of shops, coffee houses and sandwich bars.
It will take some time for the system to rebalance and normalise.
The life we knew back in spring 2020 may never return; an alternative will emerge. Such is the nature of life and of our economy.
Critically, while those in the middle band struggle with uncertainty and anxiety, those lower down face even harder dilemmas. Among working households, one in six is facing poverty as rapid house price growth and a lack of affordable childcare pushes people to the brink. Even those who have retained jobs struggle to make ends meet as costs rise, earnings stagnate and the economy faces a sharp correct post-Covid.
Rishi Sunak has done well to guide Britain through the worst of the pandemic, but tough days are certainly ahead amid the need to repay colossal amounts of debt.
