UK’s lowest paid most at risk during Covid-19 crisis, report finds

By: The Guardian

April 28, 2020

Britain’s lowest-paid workers, women and young adults have jobs with the biggest health and economic risks during the coronavirus lockdown, according to a report into the uneven impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than a month into the UK’s lockdown, the Resolution Foundation thinktank said jobs in shutdown parts of the economy were lower paid than average, with as many as one in four of the lowest earners in society working in sectors forced into temporary closure, compared with less than one in 20 of the highest paid.

As the government comes under rising pressure to outline an exit strategy from lockdown conditions, the thinktank’s report said the health risks from Covid-19 and the economic fallout would be far greater for some than others.