
The coronavirus crisis has hit workers hard: the numbers of those furloughed and those newly claiming Universal Credit illustrates the scale.
To date, however, there has been very limited information about which types of people have been most affected. In their spotlight, the Resolution Foundation begin to fill this gap with flash findings from their new coronavirus survey.
They find that nearly one-third of lower-paid employees have lost jobs or been furloughed, compared to less than one-in-ten top earners, with these experiences also more common among atypical employees. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been well-received by workers, with more than half of those furloughed happy about that outcome, perhaps in part because a fifth of them expect to remain on their full pay. The Government’s scheme for the self-employed is less well-understood, with three-in-ten workers that did some self-employed work prior to coronavirus believing they are ineligible for support.
Turning to the future, over half of the group most likely to be working from home at present – higher earners – expect to work from home more after coronavirus than they did before. But more importantly, one-in-eight of those who are currently working thinks it likely that they will lose their job over the next three months. The stakes are high for many in today’s new world of work.
Find out more and download the flash findings here.