EMPLOYMENT rates will take more than seven years to return to pre-coronavirus levels.
According to experts at least one in 10 people could be out of work by the end of June.
Speaking before the Westminster Treasury select committee, the director of think tank the Resolution Foundation said that he had serious concerns over the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the impact it could have on the labour market.
Torsten Bell explained that compared to the last recession in 2008, where sectors such as retail and hospitality were able to re-employ many people who had lost their jobs, it will be more difficult to recover.
As a result it is likely to take longer for the economy to recover and unemployment to return to the rate it was before the pandemic struck.
He also suggested the phasing out of the Government job retention scheme (JRS) is likely to see "a second wave" of unemployment.
Mr Bell said: "In terms of employment growth, reasons to be nervous are the sectors that have generally been the sectors quickest to start bringing people back from unemployment into work are hospitality and retail.
"If you look at hospitality and non-food retail after the financial crisis, they were 10% of the jobs, but they were 22% of the moves from unemployment into work in the crisis, and they cannot do that this time in the same way, This is a very different kind of crisis."
He added: "Remember there's 2 million workers just in hospitality probably on the JRS scheme, its the sector most affected."
Mr Bell said that in the 2008 financial crash, employment rates recovered by around 0.7% per year, and if the peak unemployment was 10% of the workforce, it would take at least seven years to return to where they were prior to the recession.
"Let's say unemployment peaks at 10%...The OBR suggested 9%, a little optimistic but it isn't miles off... If it falls at the average rate of the last few recessions - 0.7% for the year - we take a fall for seven years to get back to 5% unemployment.
"I think because we've all lived through record employment for the last five years, we have forgotten how slow in general unemployment bounce-backs are."
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