Jobs pledge from Rishi Sunak as number on furlough falls below two million for first time

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Mr Sunak said: “A year ago, people were expecting unemployment to peak at 12 percent – 1980s levels.“If you asked them now, they think it will peak at a level half of that.

“That’s two million people fewer out of work than we feared a year ago.”

He added: “It’s fantastic to see businesses across the UK open, employees returning to work and the numbers of furloughed jobs falling to their lowest levels since the scheme began.

“I’m proud our plan for jobs is working and our support will continue in the months ahead.”

Figures show 1.9 million people were still furloughed by the end of June, down from 2.4 million in May.

June’s numbers are the last before the scheme started to shift more of the burden from the Treasury to companies.

In July, bosses had to pick up 10 percent of workers’ pay, while Government support dropped from 80 to 70 percent.

From Sunday this will be reduced to 60 percent, with employers shouldering 20 percent of furlough pay in August and September.

The scheme will then end.

The number on furlough has dropped since January, when 5.1 million workers were on the scheme.

The Government guaranteed 80 percent of their pay, with a cap.

The economy improved with the lifting of lockdown restrictions, which had prevented firms from trading normally, or even opening.

But some businesses are still heavily affected – for example, 58 percent of UK airline jobs are still furloughed.

Young people have been most likely to be on furlough throughout much of the pandemic.

But this changed in June when they moved off the scheme twice as fast as all other age brackets.

A total of 600,000 under-25s were either brought back to work or made redundant.

Staff over 65 now have the highest furlough levels of any age group.

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