Bank of England chief economist says it is not time to lift employment measures
The Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, has said the policy support that prevented UK unemployment from rising as high as 5 million during this year’s pandemic should be removed only once the risk to jobs has been reduced.
In an interview with the Guardian before the introduction of new tier 4 curbs for London and much of south-east England, Haldane said he was hopeful of a rapid bounce-back in activity thanks to the vaccine but it was not the time to remove the “insurance policy” that had so far spared Britain from a return to the mass joblessness of the 1980s.
