On the face of it numbers look grim. Unemployment is up, and employment is down. That being said, things are not as bad as had been expected. Despite furlough beginning to wind down, the unemployment rate is far lower than neighbouring countries – at 4.1%. Wages are also ever so slightly up, by 0.2%, when they were expected to fall. Despite the overall gloom of the recession, there are glimpses of silver lining…

Back in August, it was widely reported that between March and July, the number of payroll jobs fell by 730,000. New ONS figures today have revised down that estimate. The ONS now thinks that between March and August, the number of jobs on UK payrolls actually fell by 695,000. Despite the extra month, fewer job losses were seen…