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Almost half a million Londoners claimed unemployment benefits at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, the British capital's mayor said Thursday in a keynote speech.
Mayor Sadiq Khan said the 494,800 men and women who claimed benefits in May represented a 185 percent increase over the monthly average of 173,800 claimants during the last financial year.
Speaking to business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry's Summer Reception, Khan called on the British government to introduce further measures to aid the recovery in London and across Britain.
The mayor urged more flexible support targeting specific sectors of the economy so particular challenges faced by different areas can be tackled.
Analysis by the Greater London Authority (GLA) has suggested unemployment is likely to rise further in the weeks and months to come, with almost 1.1 million London workers in sectors facing the greatest economic risk, such as tourism and hospitality.
Data collated by the GLA has found 1.07 million Londoners have been furloughed, representing around 12 percent of the total in Britain.
Khan warned many roles could be made permanently redundant if the government does not take further decisive action to protect sectors most at risk.
Khan said he had welcomed Chancellor Rishi Sunak's measures to support jobs, apprenticeships and careers advice, but he added the government needs to go further faster.
"Ministers were clearly too slow to act on the health consequences of COVID-19. We can't afford for the government to be too slow to act on the huge economic consequences as well," Khan said.
"This will not only hurt our city, but will have a massive, negative knock-on effect on the rest of the country," he added.
