Chamber calls for support as employment falls
Business leaders in Coventry and Warwickshire believe employment will fall further without additional help for firms to keep people in work.
The number of people in employment across the UK dropped by 220,000 in the quarter between April and June as the economic fall-out of the Coronavirus pandemic continued to take its toll.
Louise Bennett, the chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said the coming months would see firms across the region making critical decisions.
She said: “Each individual person losing their job as a consequence of the crisis is extremely sad.
“These have been extremely difficult times for everyone and businesses across our patch have been working incredibly hard to survive.
“The Government support – particularly furlough – has worked to limit jobs losses but as that scheme is being phased out in the next couple of months, the evidence from Chamber surveys suggests more jobs will go.
“Therefore, it’s vitally important that the Government does all it can to lower the costs of employing staff, such as reducing employer National Insurance contributions and expanding the Employment Allowance.
“As well as that, we still need to see further targeted support for certain sectors that have been more severely affected by the crisis.”
