Business News Round Up (05/04/2021)
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UK’s Johnson launches mass testing programme as economy reopens
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday everyone in England will be able to take a COVID-19 test twice a week in a new drive to track the pandemic as society reopens and the vaccine rollout continues at its rapid rate. Johnson, who is expected to confirm plans to relaunch international travel and open sections of the economy later on Monday, said the new mass testing programme would break the chain of transmissions and spot cases without symptoms. As much of Europe enters new lockdowns to tackle surging cases, Johnson has set out a staggered plan to ease restrictions in the coming months, a huge boost for one of the worst-hit countries during the pandemic. The increased testing will help health officials to track the pandemic as the country slowly reopens from a strict four-month lockdown.
Almost 190,000 retail jobs lost since the first lockdown
Almost 190,000 jobs have been lost since shops were first forced to shut their doors a year ago. New data from the Centre for Retail Research has revealed that 188,685 retail jobs have gone between the start of the first lockdown on 23 March 2020 and 31 March this year. The survey showed that 83,725 jobs lost in the period were due to administrations, including major collapses by Debenhams and the Arcadia Group. Meanwhile, around 11,986 jobs were cut during Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring processes. Another 92,974 jobs were axed through rationalisation programmes, which included supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Asda cutting thousands of roles. The devastating impact of the pandemic resulted in 15,153 store closures in shopping destinations across the UK.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/almost-190000-retail-jobs-lost-23850833
UK businesses lose £37bn a year through poor spending controls
UK businesses lose around £37bn ($51.2bn) a year through poor business spending controls — more than 10% of the total losses across Europe. That’s according to a new study by European pay and spend automation platform Soldo, which found that European businesses lose £301bn a year. Germany — Europe’s biggest economy — was the worst hit, losing around £54bn a year, while France and Italy also reported sizeable figures, £37bn and £26bn, respectively. Against a backdrop of low productivity and the economic impact of the pandemic, this concerning figure is equivalent to 2% of revenues for every business in the UK – with losses starting at around £50,000 for small businesses, rising to around £12m for the biggest UK firms.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/business-spending-controls-losses-uk-economy-coronavirus-151146043.html
North-East employment decline underlines need for ‘just transition’ to net-zero
New study findings show the size of the working population across Aberdeen city and shire has shrunk by 9% – meaning 21,500 fewer jobs – over the past five years. Using data from the Fraser of Allander Institute, Just Transition Commission, Office for National Statistics and Scottish Government, the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) has highlighted a steady decline in north-east employment during 2016, in the aftermath of a severe oil and gas downturn. This was followed by three years of stability and then a sharp drop after April 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll on jobs. Other parts of Scotland have been just as badly hit by the coronavirus in terms of reduced employment, but they did not suffer workforce contraction in 2016. In fact, some areas enjoyed employment growth that year. According to SCDI’s latest State of the Nation report, 19% of Scottish workers are currently on furlough – representing more than 600,000 jobs. The sectors with the highest proportion of workers on furlough remain accommodation and food services (63%) and arts, entertainment, and recreation (60%).