The number of UK workers on payrolls fell by 649,000 between March and June as the coronavirus crisis claimed another 74,000 jobs last month, according to the Office for National Statistics.

As the pandemic took hold, the labour market weakened markedly, but that rate of decline slowed into June, though this is before recent reports of job losses.

There are now almost two-thirds of a million fewer employees on the payroll than before the lockdown, according to the latest tax data.

The Labour Force Survey is showing only a small fall in employment, but shows a large number of people who report working no hours and getting no pay.

There are now far more out-of-work people who are not looking for a job than before the pandemic.

Around one in three companies plan to lay off staff over next three months, report warns
Almost a third of UK firms plan to lay off staff over the next three months in a further sign of the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating impact on Britain’s job market, according to a report.

The British Chamber of Commerce said 29% of businesses in a survey of 7,400 firms planned to cut the size of their workforce in the next three months, the highest percentage of companies planning to make redundancies since the BCC began tracking employment intentions in 1989.

The BCC said the survey was carried out prior to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announcing in the summer econmic update up to £30bn of fresh tax and spending measures last week to protect jobs and kickstart Britain’s economic recovery from Covid-19.

Despite those additional spending measures promised, the BCC said Sunak still needed to take further action to limit the damage for jobs, including a temporary cut in employer national insurance contributions and more funding for training staff.