For many of us, the winter months are a time for rest and relaxation. A time to reflect on the past year, and reconnect with loved ones. While one can never guarantee that all winter proceedings will go smoothly – you may remember tales of Christmas dinner arguments or New Year’s Eve drunken mishaps from celebrations gone by – a familiar warmth can be felt at this time of year, amidst the chaos.
For 1.25 million unemployed UK residents, however, with a new, sharp chill in the air comes economic instability, declining mental health and an uncertain future.
Recent research conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found that the UK unemployment rate has increased to 3.7% since October 2022, with an additional 65,000 vacancies and opportunities to work lost.
While a larger proportion of the UK’s over-50 population, in particular, are rejecting earlier retirement and seeking employment, fears have grown across the economic market that a lack of available career prospects may result in a greater number of unemployed workers in need of long-term or temporary positions.
Polly Tester, a West Sussex resident, is one of many newly dismissed workers feeling the pressure of the winter months. She was made redundant from her role as a sales assistant for a large British clothing retailer over a month ago, after the firm collapsed into administration.
"I was due to go into work in the afternoon; I received an email to join a Zoom meeting, which I assumed was to tell us who was buying our company. However, the meeting was to say that I had lost my job and that my shop would be closing down.
The store itself was still trading at the time; we were told 10 minutes before the meeting to shut our doors, turn the lights off and get all customers out of the shop – we were finished."
The unemployed population may additionally suffer from a greater risk of mental health complications, as a result of pressures related to sourcing vacancies, maintaining households and generating income whilst out of employment. For workers who have lost their jobs due to business failure, such as Polly, the emotions experienced can vary anywhere between heartbreak and helplessness.
"I was very emotional about the way the notice was carried out; I felt like a number, and not a valued staff member. I had panicked over how I was going to afford my car payments, and the money that I pay into my household’s joint account. I felt sorry that I wasn’t going to work with my team anymore, and completely shell-shocked – we had been told that we were a very affluent store."
Unemployment in the UK has previously been on a steady decrease since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, after a spike of just under 2 million UK residents of the working population were recorded as not being involved in employment from October to December 2020, according to research by the House of Commons Library.
Before COVID-19 restrictions ceased across the nation in the last year, £68.5 billion was dedicated to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) by the Conservative government under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in order to support potentially vulnerable careers.
This resulted in the preservation of just under 12 million employed individuals across the nation – approximately one third of the UK working population.
Over a year on from the abolishment of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, however, it is clear to see that all is not rosy in the employment sector. Rising rates of long-term illness and disability and the risk of an incoming recession are just a fraction of the causes for this new rise in unemployment.
While support is available to the workless national population in discovering potential opportunities for work, such as through local job centres, the experiences of some of their users suggest that the process of job seeking through these means may not be so efficient.
"The very first time I’d ever been to a job centre, I found the whole process just crazy. As pleasant and nice as the staff were, they didn’t understand what I was going through," Polly recounts.
Polly herself is one of the lucky ones; she has been able to find a new role as a sales assistant for a different retail company, which she will be starting at the end of January. When asked what advice she would give to an unemployed individual looking for work, her answer is simple:
"Get out there and look for it. You have to fight for it yourself; if you want a job, you can get a job."
(Video credit: TEDEd)
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