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Young workers, the worst paid and women will be most affected economically by the coronavrius, a study has found.

A “remarkable concentration” of those groups are employed in sectors that have shut down, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) discovered.

It said its research raised serious worries about the longer-term effect of the crisis on young people especially and inequality. Those with the lowest earnings were particularly hard hit, the IFS said.

The research comes as the UK’s confidence in the economy has fallen to its lowest in 12 years as the Covid-19 crisis drains consumer confidence.

The last time such a decline happened was during the 2008 economic downturn. Market research firm GfK’s consumer confidence gauge dropped to -34, a decline of 25 points compared to just two weeks earlier. It suggested record grocery sales were not enough to counteract the “stark” outlook for the retail industry. – BBC.