The Economist UK - 28.03.2020

The EconomistMarch 28th 2020 25

1

I

n some ways, Britain is more united than

it has been for a long time. Bickering over

Brexit has been shelved. Party politics is all

but suspended, after Parliament voted to

shut itself down on March 25th to min-

imise the risk of transmission of covid-19.

Ministers are marshalling an army of vol-

unteers to help the health service. And the

virus itself is no respecter of rank: Prince

Charles is among those it has infected.

Yet the fallout from the pandemic

threatens to expose—and widen—inequal-

ity in brutal fashion. As Torsten Bell of the

Resolution Foundation, a think-tank, puts

it, “the virus doesn’t discriminate between

people but the accompanying economic

shock certainly does.” Before covid-19 hit,

Boris Johnson’s plan was to “level up”

poorer communities. The opposite is hap-

pening. Young and old, north and south,

and rich and poor all have markedly differ-

ent capacities to bear the burden of lock-

down, social isolation and a sharp drop in

economic activity.

The first divide is geographic. Differ-

ences in the structure of local labour mar-

kets may lead to vastly different outcomes

across the country (see map overleaf ).

Some parts of the country are stuffed with

professionals who can weather travel re-

strictions by working from home; others

are full of factory workers who can hardly

set up assembly lines in their living rooms.

Prosperous places like Reading and Brigh-

ton have plenty of potential home-work-

ers, according to analysis by the Centre for

Cities, another think-tank. Less well-to-do

cities like Middlesbrough and Hull do not.

The south-east of England, the region

with the highest share of white-collar jobs,

is best placed for business as usual. More

than a third of journalists, for example,

work in London. The Economisthas been

entirely written and edited from journal-

ists’ homes, most of them in the south-

east. Even within regions, differences are

stark. Newcastle will cope better than

neighbouring Sunderland. The map echoes

geographic divides in support for Brexit.

The thriving areas that voted Remain are

more likely to be packed with video-con-

ferencers today than are the so-called left-

behind places that voted to leave the eu.

The second disparity is economic. The

most flexible workers tend to be higher

earners. The Resolution Foundation reck-

ons about half of Britain’s highest-paid em-

ployees can work from home, but less than

10% of those in the four lowest-paid deciles

can. Hospitality and retail workers, who

will bear the brunt of closures, are already

among the lowest-paid in Britain (see

chart). Nor can they fall back on reserves:

more than half of poorer households have

no savings.

Covid-19 and inequality

The great divider

Boris Johnson wants to “level up” Britain; covid-19 is doing the opposite

Higher pay, better prospects

Britain

By industry/occupation

Sources: Understanding Society; LFS

0 10 20 30 40

Share of employees who could work

from home, 2014-18 average, %

Median gross

weekly pay,2019, £

800

600

400

200

0

Managers & senior officialsManagers & senior officials

Public

administration

Public

administration

Finance,

insurance

Wholesale/retailWholesale/retail & business

Hotels/restaurantsHotels/restaurants

Britain

26 Slow start in combating covid

28 How the NHS is adapting

28 Drugs: coke out, weed in

30 Covid in a London street

30 Covid in an English village

31 Saving jobs

31 Alex Salmond is not guilty

Also in this section

32 Bagehot: The new politics