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Serious doubts over whether new wage support scheme will prevent 1980s levels of unemployment

RISHI SUNAK’S latest emergency package of wage support for sectors hardest-hit by the pandemic will not be enough to stop unemployment levels last seen in the 1980s, Labour warned today.

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said that his latest measures, which will replace the job retention scheme that paid 80 per cent of furloughed employees’ wages, will not save masses of jobs from being lost.

On Thursday, Mr Sunak announced the new job support scheme, which would see the government and employers help to pay wages for employees able to work at least a third of their hours. 

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