End of furlough brings uncertainty for UK jobs and economy

End of furlough brings uncertainty for UK jobs and economy

LONDON- More than a million British workers face an uncertain future this week as the UK becomes the world's first big economy to wind up its COVID-19 jobs support scheme. The programme, which at its peak paid a third of employees to stay at home, cost more than 68 billion pounds ($93 billion) - the most expensive single piece of UK economic support during the pandemic. It also marked a sharp shift in policy in Britain where unemployment benefits are low by European standards. "I think it's been an absolute lifesaver ... and was exactly what the government needed to put in," said Sabby Gill, chief executive of human resources software firm Thomas International, which furloughed staff until the start of this year. The approach to pandemic job support in Britain and elsewhere in Europe differed from the United States, which increased unemployment benefits a lot but made much less effort to preserve the link between employers and staff. Other European countries with more tradition of short-time working programmes such as Germany are keeping furlough support longer, at least for harder-hit sectors. But with employers reporting record-high job vacancies- most observers think Britain is right to end its programme on