More grim jobs data highlights the challenge facing Rishi Sunak

The chancellor said he didn’t want to give furloughed workers ‘false hope’ by extending his job retention scheme but it could be the that the economy is simply too weak to cope in its absence, writes James Moore

Sunak has been urged to extend the furlough scheme past October (Getty)

If two sets of data out this morning are right, the pressure on chancellor Rishi Sunak to perform a volte face and extend his job retention scheme, and prevent a bitter economic wind blowing through Britain in the autumn, is only going to mount.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development’s regular quarterly survey of 2,000 employers has found that one in three (33 per cent) expect to cut jobs in the third quarter of 2020.

The figure is 50 per cent higher than the one that emerged in the spring edition of its Labour Market Outlook, which is put together in conjunction with Adecco Group.