UK jobless rate highest since 2016 as second COVID-19 lockdown hits

Image
  Britain’s unemployment rate hit its highest in nearly five years in the three months to November, when coronavirus cases began to rise for a second time and most of the country returned to a partial lockdown. Redundancies touched a record high, taking the unemployment rate to 5.0%, its highest since mid-2016, according to official data, although the increase was slightly weaker than economists’ forecasts. There were some signs of a limited recovery in December, when lockdown measures eased, although a deterioration is likely in early 2021 as a tougher lockdown shut schools and closed most non-essential businesses to the public. Tax data for December showed a 52,000 increase in the number of staff on company payrolls from November, but there were 828,000 fewer workers on payrolls than in February. Economists said the data showed the jobs market was holding up better than many forecasters had feared.Unemployment has been kept down by the government’s Job Retention Scheme, which sup...
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PM inducts new ministers in Cabinet

 


Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli appointed eight new Cabinet ministers and one minister of state today, first time after he recommended dissolution of the House of Representatives on December 20. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers.

Portfolios of ministers

Name of the minister

Portfolio

Top Bahadur Raymajhi

Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation

Manichandra Thapa

Drinking Water and Sanitation

Prabhu Sah

Urban Development

Prem Bahadur Ale

Forest and Environment

Ganesh Thagunna

Federal Affairs and General Administration

Gauri Shankar Chaudhary

Labour, Employment, and Social Security

Juli Kumari Mahato

Women, Children, and Senior Citizens

Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal (portfolio changed)

Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation

Hridayesh Tripathi (portfolio changed)

Health and Population

Lilanath Shrestha (portfolio changed)

Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs

Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe (portfolio changed)

Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation

Krishna Gopal Shrestha (portfolio changed)

Education, Science, and Technology

Padma Aryal (portfolio changed)

Agriculture and Livestock Development

Dawa Lama

Youth and Sports

Bimala Bishwakarma (Minister of State)

Industries, Commerce, and Supplies

The PM changed portfolios of six ministers — Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe, Lilanath Shrestha, Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, Hridayesh Tripathi and Padma Aryal — and removed Minister of Youth and Sports Jagat Bahadur Sunar (Bishwakarma) from his Cabinet. He also removed Minister of State for Industries, Commerce and Supplies Moti Lal Dugad.

Seven ministerial portfolios had fallen vacant after ministers loyal to Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior NCP leader Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned on December 20 to protest the dissolution of the House of Representatives.

Seven ministers — Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development Ghanshyam Bhusal, Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Kumar Bhattarai, Minister of Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation Barshaman Pun, Minister of Forest and Environment Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Minister of Labour and Employment and Social Security Rameshwor Ray Yadav, Minister of Drinking Water Bina Magar, and Minister of Education, Science, and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokhrel — had resigned from the Cabinet the day the House of Representatives was dissolved.

Three newly inducted ministers — Top Bahadur Raymajhi, Mani Thapa, and Prabhu Sah — were formerly associated with CPN-Maoist Centre.

They left the Dahal faction to join the Oli faction when the NCP suffered a vertical split.Prabhu Sah had even attended the Central Committee meeting called by the Dahal faction but he left the faction in protest of two co-chairperson system in the party.

A version of this article appears in print on 26 Dec, 2020 of The Himalayan Times.

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