London - At least 220 000 people were left without jobs in the United Kingdom after the country was put into lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, official figures showed on Tuesday.
The statistics agency also said the number of people on payroll in the UK fell by a further 81 000 in July, taking the total decline since the start of the pandemic in March to 730 000. While the number of people on payroll has fallen to 28.27 million since the start of the pandemic, the country's official unemployment rate is not rising, holding steady in June at 3.9%. To be counted among the unemployed, workers need to be actively looking for a new job, which many have decided not to do yet.
Though these workers have not been working over the past few months, they are not counted as unemployed.