Ending furlough too soon will wreck post-Covid chances for many firms | Richard Partington

Rishi Sunak should think again as scheme will be badly missed by businesses in hardest-hit sectors

The complaints from employers are getting louder. Far from the headlines a year ago warning of a rerun of 1980s-style unemployment, businesses are worried there aren't enough workers to go around.

And yet Britain's economy faces a paradox: after the government delayed the final easing of Covid-19 restrictions in England, employers are also turning up the volume about the growing risk of job losses. Is this simply Janus-faced corporate lobbying or can both somehow be right at once?

Related: Furloughed workers reluctant to return, says Andrea Leadsom

Delaying the easing of lockdown is unlikely to be severely damaging for the economy at large