Jonathan Haskel, Professor of聽Economics at Imperial Business School, spoke at the聽聽on 20 May聽聽聽
The Committee put questions to聽the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey, as well as Bank of England representatives, including Professor Haskel聽on Bank of England Monetary Policy reports and the聽potential聽impact of a post-coronavirus (COVID-19) recession聽on the UK economy.聽
Among the subjects addressed聽during the session were聽the government support packages to help small businesses and limit job losses.
鈥淲e faced a very difficult crisis and a very difficult situation which has hit very suddenly,鈥 Professor Haskel聽said. "Originally the small firms found it difficult to absorb these schemes and as the government was saying earlier on that situation has improved with their redesign."
The subject of which聽industries and members of society聽were likely to be hit hardest聽by a recession聽was聽also raised during the discussion.聽
We faced a very difficult crisis and a very difficult situation which has hit very suddenly
鈥淥ne area that has been hit very hard is the construction sector,鈥 said Professor Haskel.聽鈥淭he construction sector disproportionately employs self-employed people and so their incomes are going to be hit.鈥澛
"The health or otherwise of that sector is very important in thinking about how self-employed people will do. But again, that鈥檚 a tricky question which depends on when the lockdown might be released and when construction can carry on under social distancing measures."
He added聽that the hospitality sector, such as restaurants and hotels, would also be disproportionately hit, noting聽that this sector typically employs "young and unskilled workers who don鈥檛 have savings to smooth their way through a recession".聽聽
鈥淭he overall stance on monetary and fiscal policy is going to be incredibly聽important in understanding how we鈥檙e going to pull out of this recession because the fortunes of those kinds of workers are going to fall very strongly upon aggregate demand in the economy,鈥 he said.聽
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