Has the furlough scheme worked?  It’s coming to an end in just a few weeks’ time, but as the press release below indicates, there will be an increase in unemployment in November.  As a Midlands IT recruitment agency we have some knowledge of how it’s affecting the local IT jobs market (Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham), but this doesn’t reflect what’s happening in the country overall, or in other job industries.  Most of our clients have brought back all their furloughed IT workers, or they didn’t furlough them at all.

Commenting on the latest labour market figures from the ONS, Debapratim De, senior economist at Deloitte, said:

“The furlough scheme has been very effective in cushioning the blow from the pandemic to the labour market. But cracks are beginning to show, with unemployment rising – particularly among younger workers – and redundancies hitting their highest level in almost eight years.

“Although growth has bounced back in the third quarter, the recovery is likely to be slow and uneven, with a sharp rise in unemployment almost unavoidable once the furlough scheme ends.”

(Press release from Deloitte)

So in our experience people who work in permanent IT roles or on contract via an IT recruitment agency don’t seem to be feeling the pain as much as other workers.  It depends on your industry, of course, but the overall picture is fairly good.  Will it last past the end of October?

This Midlands IT recruitment agency hopes so!

Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash