Coronavirus: More than half of furloughed staff 'back at work'
The number of furloughed workers at any one time peaked at nearly eight million in late April, the foundation said, based on analysis of three separate Office for National Statistics surveys.
Dan Tomlinson, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said:"The Job Retention Scheme has supported around a third of the private sector workforce at some point since lockdown began, protecting family incomes and preventing catastrophic levels of unemployment." But he said that millions of employees are currently without work, particularly in sectors such as hospitality and leisure, and called for the government to phase out support for these"hardest hit" sectors more slowly, due to a"heightened" risk of unemployment.
A Treasury spokesman said:"We said at the start of the crisis that we couldn't save every job - but it's clear that the furlough scheme has saved millions of them - and now many people who've been furloughed are able to return to work. "That's good for the economy but more importantly it's good for individuals, their families and communities."
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