Reflecting on the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Businesses, Minority Groups and their Implications for Socio-economic wellbeing in Britain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14738/abr.93.9869Keywords:
Businesses, strategic-policies, government, Covid-19, Socio-economic and minoritiesAbstract
This article examined the impact of Covid-19 on businesses through the prism of the British government’s strategic policies to stem the pandemic. It argues that the pandemic has paralysed major sectors of the national economy through locked-down measures, which consequently restricted the people’s socio-economic welfare. Also, the article contends that the retailing and pubs sectors of the economy registered dwindled revenue and created shortages of employment in the country. With major terminals of the British Airports shut down, the article demonstrates that several employment opportunities, spanning air stewardess, airport security, cargo handling, restaurants and retailing were stifled. In addition, the article proposes that, the general social and economic fabrics of workers in the aviation industry, majority of whom, belonged to the minority communities were restricted. On the minority groups, the article states that they represent the most afflicted and marginalized population during the pandemic; because, they were easily targeted for redundancies and furlough schemes without the needed representation at executive levels to protect their interests. Regarding the government’s strategies, the article argues that although it implemented political and economic solutions to support businesses and protect families, in order to absolve them from the crises, the major concern was that the measures were late and failed to adequately address the crisis. With respect to perspectives, the article points out that, though furlough schemes and soft loans were provided to guarantee the safety of businesses and citizens; the manner of implementation by the government was not creative enough to resolve the crisis. Lastly, the article argues that regardless of the government‘s policies to redeem thousands of businesses and families from socio-economic distresses, minority groups in Britain were largely disadvantaged, thereby reinforcing the status-quo
References
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34. The Pew Research Centre (2017). Undocumented/unauthorized Immigrants in the UK (2017). Available at: https://www.Pewresearch.org/global/fact-sheet/unauthorized-immigrants-in-the-united-kingdon/. Accessed February 20, 2021.
35. Migration Observatory. Migrants in the Overview-Migration Observatory, November 6, 2020. Available at: https://migration-observatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants-in-the-uk-an-overbiew. Accessed 20 February, 2021.
36. Edwards, R. (2020). How Covid-19 has worsened the Plight of UK Migrants, Lexology, July 19, 2020.
37. Haque, Z, Becares, L. and Trelolar, N. (2020). Over-Exposed and Under-protected: The Devastating Impact of Covid-19 on Block and Minority Ethnic Communities in Great Britain, August, Runnymede.
38. Stiglitz, E.J. (2019). People, Power and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discount. UK, Penguin Books, 187.
39. Financial Support for Businesses during Coronavirus (Covid-1). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-busineeses-during-coronavirus-covid-19. Accessed February 23, 2021.
40. Durrant, T., Pope, T., Lily, A., Guerin, B., Shepherd, M., Nickson, S., Schuller, J.A., Mullins, Burgess, E.M., Dalton, G., (2021). Whitehall Monitor 2021- Institute for Government. Available at: http://www.instituteforgovernment.org/uk/sites/default/files/publications/whitehall-monitor-2021-20.pdf. Accessed January 2021.
41. HM Revenue and Customs, ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Secondary Analysis’ October 22, 2020. Available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics-secondary-analysis. Accessed February 2021.
42. Insolvency Service, ‘Monthly Statistics’, 15 December 2020. Available at: www.gov.uk/governement/collections/monthly-Insolvency-statistics. Accessed February 22, 2021.
43. Resolution Foundation, ‘Self-Employment Support Scheme Pays out 1.3 billion to Thriving Businesses, but Nothing to 500,000 left without Work’. Available at: www.resolutionfoundation.org/press-release/self-employment-support-scheme-pay-out-over-1-3-billion-to-thriving-businesses-but-nthing-to-500000-left-without-work. Accessed February 21, 2021.
44. King, S. (2020). ‘Here is what Rishi should do to avoid “cliff edge drop” in unemployment,’ see note 7.
45. King, S. (2020). ‘Here is what Rishi should do to avoid “cliff edge drop” in unemployment’, see note 7.
46. Dunt, I. (2021). ‘Silent Carnage of Proof of the abject Failure of or Government’ see note 8.
47. Syed, M. [2020]. ‘In a Real Crisis, We Reach for Expertise –So Let’s Use it to Kill off the Ideology Virus too’ The Sunday Times, March 15, 2020.
48. Ball, J. [2021]. ‘Jabbed by a Sense of déjà vu’ The New European, January 14, 10.
49. Blair, T. (2021). ‘The System will say it’s Doing its Best on Covid. That isn’t Good Enough’. Evening Standard. January 11, p. 12.
50. Ofori, F.N.K. (2020) ‘Financialisation, Regionalism and Leadership: Comparing Covid-19 Impacts and Responses in African and European Unions’, RSA: Regions e-Zine Issue 7, ISBN 1367-3882. https://doi.org/10.1080/13673882.2020.00001077. Accessed February 24, 2021.
2. Lock, S., (2020). ‘Pubs in the United Kingdom (UK) - Statistics & Facts’ Statista, December 3, 2020.
3. The RetailEconimics [2020], UK Retail Stats and Facts, available at: www.retaileconomics.co.uk, accessed January 2021.
4. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) [2020]. ‘The Impact of the Coronavirus so far: The Industries that The Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2020) ‘Struggled or Recovered’, available at: www.ons.gov.uk, accessed December 20, 2020.
5. Saunders, M. ‘The Economy and Covid-19: Looking Back and Looking Forward’ Speech, given on September 4, 2020, available at: www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches and @BoE_PressOffice.
6. Hancock, A, and Powley, T. [2020]. ‘Airlines count cost of cancelled events as Multinationals Freeze Business Trips and turn to Video Conferencing Instead’, The Financial Times, 29 February/ 1 March, 2020, 17.
7. King, S., [2020]. ‘Here’s What Rishi Should do to avoid a ‘Cliff Edge’ drop in Employment’ The Evening Standard, Monday, September 21, 2020.
8. Dunt, I. [2021]. ‘Silent Carnage Proof of the Abject Failure of our Government’ The New European, January 14, 2021.
9. Feehan, K, (2020). ‘Heathrow is set to Axe up a Quarter of its Frontline Staff with up to 1,200 roles at The Daily Mail [2020]. ‘Risk as Airport suffers Huge Downturn to on-going Covid Crisis’ September 2, 2020.
10. Oxford Economics, [2020], The Economic Impact of Reduced Activity at Heathrow: Draft Report for the London of Borough of Hounslow, Millbank, London, July, 2020.
11. Oxford Economics, (2020).
12. GOV.UK: ‘Government’s Multimillion-Pound Support for Airports Opens Today’, News Story, January 29, 2021, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government’s.multimillion-pounds-scheme-for-airports, accessed February 5, 2021.
13. The BBC, ‘Covid-19: Hotel Bookings for Quarantine being made ‘at pace’, February 5, 2021.
14. Bedford, E. [2020]. ‘Covid-19 Impact on Footfall of Hospitality Businesses in the UK 2020’, Statista, December 3, 2020.
15. Jolly, J. [2020]. ‘Covid-hit UK Hotels unlikely to recover for Four Years, says PwC’ The Guardian, Tuesday 27 Dec 2020.
16 UK: House of Commons Library, ‘Hospitality Industry and Covid-19’ Research Briefing, Friday’, January 8, 2021.
17.Thorlby, R., Tinson, A., and Kraindler, J. (2020). Covid-19: Five Dimensions of Impact, The Health Foundation, April 29.
18. Thorlby, R., Tinson, A., and Kraindler, J. (2020).
19. Kelly, E. and Firth, Z. (2020). How Covid-19 is Changing the use of Emergency Care?. The Health Foundation. May 15.
20. Shaukat, N., Ali, D. M., Razzak, J. (2020). Physical and Mental Health Impacts of Covid-19 on Healthcare Workers: A Scoping Review, International Journal of Emergency Medicine. 13 (40), 2-8.
21. The Royal College of Physicians, Covid-19 and its Impacts on NHS Workforce, April 5, 2020. Available at: www.rcplondon.wc.uk, accessed February 14, 2021.
22. Propper, C., Stoye, G., and Zaranko, B. (2020). The Wider Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the NHS. Institute for Fiscal Studies, April 9. Available at: www.ifs.org.uk, accessed February 14, 2021.
23. Giles, C., ‘Bank of England warns Coronavirus Resurgence threatens UK Economic Recovery’ The Financial Times, September 17, 2020.
24. UK Parliament: House of Commons Library- ‘Coronavirus: Economic Impact’ Research Briefing, January 18, 2021. Available at: www.commonslibrary.parliament.uk, accessed February 15, 2021.
25. Power, M., Doherty, B., Pybus, K., Pickett, K. (2020). How Covid-19 has Exposed Inequalities in the UK Food System: The Case of UK Food and Poverty. Emerald Open Research, 2 (11). May 13, http://doi:10.35241/emeraldopenres.13599.2
26. Loopstra, R., Goodwin, S., Goldberg, R.,Lambie-Mumford, H., May, J., & Williams, A. (2019). A Survey of Food Banks operating Independently of the Trussell Trust Food bank Network.
27. Barker, M. and Russell, J. (2020). Feeding the Food Insecure in Britain: Learning from the 2020 COvid-19 Crisis. Food Sec.12, 865-870. https://doi.org/101007/s12751-020-01080-5. Accessed February 2021.
28. Hammond, G. (2021) ‘Pandemic has left 450,000 in Housing debt, Study finds’, Financial Times, Wednesday, February 17, 2020.
29. Hammond, G. (2021), see note 28.
30. Office for National Statistics (2020). ‘Coronavirus (Covid-19) Roundup: Economy, Business and Jobs’. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronavirus.covid-19roundup-economybusinessandjobs/2020-07-02 . Accessed on February 18, 2021.
31. Office for National Statistics (2020). ‘GDP first Quarterly Estimate, UK: April to June 2020’. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdosmeticproductdgdp/bulletins/gdpfisrtquarterlyestimateuk/apriltojune2020, Accessed on February 19, 2021.
32. UK Parliament: ‘Impact of Covid-19 on Different Ethnic Minority Groups’ October 19, 2020. Available at: https://post.parliament/impact-of-Covid-19-on-different-ethnic-minority-groups. Accessed February 22, 2021.
33. Pricewaterhouse Coopers [2020]. Guarding against Unintended Consequences: The ‘Impact of Covid-19 on Gender and Race & Ethnic Diversity in the Hospitality, Travel and Leisure Sector’, available at: www.pwc.com/structure, accessed January 25, 2021.
34. The Pew Research Centre (2017). Undocumented/unauthorized Immigrants in the UK (2017). Available at: https://www.Pewresearch.org/global/fact-sheet/unauthorized-immigrants-in-the-united-kingdon/. Accessed February 20, 2021.
35. Migration Observatory. Migrants in the Overview-Migration Observatory, November 6, 2020. Available at: https://migration-observatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migrants-in-the-uk-an-overbiew. Accessed 20 February, 2021.
36. Edwards, R. (2020). How Covid-19 has worsened the Plight of UK Migrants, Lexology, July 19, 2020.
37. Haque, Z, Becares, L. and Trelolar, N. (2020). Over-Exposed and Under-protected: The Devastating Impact of Covid-19 on Block and Minority Ethnic Communities in Great Britain, August, Runnymede.
38. Stiglitz, E.J. (2019). People, Power and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discount. UK, Penguin Books, 187.
39. Financial Support for Businesses during Coronavirus (Covid-1). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-busineeses-during-coronavirus-covid-19. Accessed February 23, 2021.
40. Durrant, T., Pope, T., Lily, A., Guerin, B., Shepherd, M., Nickson, S., Schuller, J.A., Mullins, Burgess, E.M., Dalton, G., (2021). Whitehall Monitor 2021- Institute for Government. Available at: http://www.instituteforgovernment.org/uk/sites/default/files/publications/whitehall-monitor-2021-20.pdf. Accessed January 2021.
41. HM Revenue and Customs, ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Secondary Analysis’ October 22, 2020. Available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics-secondary-analysis. Accessed February 2021.
42. Insolvency Service, ‘Monthly Statistics’, 15 December 2020. Available at: www.gov.uk/governement/collections/monthly-Insolvency-statistics. Accessed February 22, 2021.
43. Resolution Foundation, ‘Self-Employment Support Scheme Pays out 1.3 billion to Thriving Businesses, but Nothing to 500,000 left without Work’. Available at: www.resolutionfoundation.org/press-release/self-employment-support-scheme-pay-out-over-1-3-billion-to-thriving-businesses-but-nthing-to-500000-left-without-work. Accessed February 21, 2021.
44. King, S. (2020). ‘Here is what Rishi should do to avoid “cliff edge drop” in unemployment,’ see note 7.
45. King, S. (2020). ‘Here is what Rishi should do to avoid “cliff edge drop” in unemployment’, see note 7.
46. Dunt, I. (2021). ‘Silent Carnage of Proof of the abject Failure of or Government’ see note 8.
47. Syed, M. [2020]. ‘In a Real Crisis, We Reach for Expertise –So Let’s Use it to Kill off the Ideology Virus too’ The Sunday Times, March 15, 2020.
48. Ball, J. [2021]. ‘Jabbed by a Sense of déjà vu’ The New European, January 14, 10.
49. Blair, T. (2021). ‘The System will say it’s Doing its Best on Covid. That isn’t Good Enough’. Evening Standard. January 11, p. 12.
50. Ofori, F.N.K. (2020) ‘Financialisation, Regionalism and Leadership: Comparing Covid-19 Impacts and Responses in African and European Unions’, RSA: Regions e-Zine Issue 7, ISBN 1367-3882. https://doi.org/10.1080/13673882.2020.00001077. Accessed February 24, 2021.
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Published
2021-03-24
How to Cite
Ofori, F. N. K. (2021). Reflecting on the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Businesses, Minority Groups and their Implications for Socio-economic wellbeing in Britain. Archives of Business Research, 9(3), 183–197. https://doi.org/10.14738/abr.93.9869
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