Читать книгу The Dignity of Labour - Jon Cruddas - Страница 18

Then our lives were threatened, and work stopped. In the US, 20 million jobs were lost in April 2020 alone, 8.6 million in leisure and hospitality. In the UK for the same month the ONS calculated an unemployment rise of 856,000 to 2.1 million, the biggest monthly increase since modern records began. On 15 April, the Universal Credit director general briefed that 1.4 million people had signed up for Universal Credit in the preceding four weeks. That same month the number of people on PAYE fell by 457,000. The immediate economic outlook would have been much bleaker if not for the government’s furlough scheme, the biggest labour market intervention in history. Many companies did not lay off staff straight away because for six months the Treasury picked up the tab for 80 per cent of monthly pay up to a limit of £2,500. Yet this package suspended rather than resolved the employment effects of the virus. Without the wage subsidies covering 8 million jobs, the UK would have faced an unemployment rate approaching 20 per cent in early 2020. Yet the country continues to face an epic work challenge.

Some sectors were disproportionately affected immediately by the pandemic; the accommodation and food services sector, the arts, entertainment and recreation sectors had the largest number of firms decreasing staff working hours. Around 15 per cent of employees were working in a sector that was immediately, largely or entirely shut down during the initial period of lockdown. From the outset the virus proved to be unequal. Some workers were disproportionally impacted. Low-paid workers were more likely to work in shut-down sectors and less likely to be able to work from home, as were the young. One-third of employees in the bottom 10 per cent of earners worked in shut-down sectors, and less than 10 per cent of the bottom half of earners could work from home.

The pandemic and the prospect of death forced us to reassess what we value in our own lives and the lives of others. We applauded health and care workers. We re-evaluated the work of hairdressers, delivery drivers and a range of public servants, social workers, supermarket operatives and an array of tradespeople. We were forced to rethink how we value and reward the contribution of millions of front-line workers. Will the economy that emerges after the pandemic honour and respect the dignity of this work?