The highest rise in unemployment has been among the young and the old. The ONS says that the main reason for the demographic is that young people are more likely to be employed in areas such as hotels, restaurants and the tourism industry. Unfortunately, these jobs were hit particularly hard by the lockdown and quarantine restrictions reducing the number of tourists travelling. Additionally, these are the same people who do not have a lot of experience, and they cannot pivot into something else.

Other reasons for the increase in unemployment was that the Government was powering a massive part of the economy through the furlough scheme. The main intention of the furlough scheme was reducing unemployment by giving companies enough money to pay salaries until the economy was stable, and they could stand alone. However, it didn't seem likely that was going to be the case, and the Government is in talks to stop the scheme by the end of the month.

They are planning on replacing the scheme with another one that they have in the books. They know that companies are not going to be able to stand alone, but they have to stop the scheme since the Government cannot keep funding businesses that are not breaking even. The replacement scheme is going to work with companies that are working to solving the COVID issue or were directly assisting during the pandemic. With such a high unemployment rate, the economy was not doing well, but the teams that usually handle the research did not get the chance to coordinate since they can only come up with the new number every three months.

Gathering the information needed during the pandemic was quite challenging., especially with most companies having staff working remotely.

With the number of people losing their jobs or forced to leave with companies shutting down and multiple changes taking place, it was quite challenging for employers to trust the people who were coming into companies. The UK was not making background checks mandatory whenever they were working with anyone or hiring them. While background checks were a nightmare to get

through in the past, the UK had a system called the DBS certificate that they were using for the last decade, but it was not very popular. However, with the changes that were taking place now, it was becoming a lot more convenient.

The DBS check had two separate background tests, the standard DBS check and the enhanced one. The enhanced one requires permissions from the applicant and provides a lot more information than the standard test. To improve the system, people can even choose to update the information that they have added in to better their chances of getting the job they are applying for. They can only make changes to the DBS system through the DBS Update Service, and it can be accessed online, making it an easy platform for both the applicant and the employer. Using the DBS test saves a lot less time and prevents working with an actual background check.