The United States also had a much worse impact than the United Kingdom. The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, is not beating around the bush: the figures are simply terrible.

“Today’s figures confirm that times are tough,” he said in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost and sadly many more will be lost in the coming months. There are tough choices to make in the near future, but we will get through it.”

According to Bloomberg, the figure is the worst since they started measuring the economy in 1955.

All major eurozone countries performed better in the second quarter, as their economies were gripped by the coronavirus. In Germany the reduction was 10 percent, in Italy 12 percent, in France 14 percent, and in Spain 18 percent. The Netherlands will release figures for this period on Friday.

The coronavirus crisis has now caused the loss of 730,000 jobs in the UK.

Later in lockdown

According to analyst Bert Colijn of ING, the hard hit to the economy is a logical consequence of the lockdown. “The UK found this more difficult in the second quarter, because the UK went into lockdown later than mainland Europe. Lockdowns also lasted longer in this measurement period.”

In Italy, people were able to go to restaurants again in mid-May. This has only been possible again in the UK since July 4th.

Colijn also sees a slower recovery now that England are allowed to move more freely again. “I looked at Google’s mobility index. It shows exactly how many people are going to the office, shopping center or supermarket. You can also see that people are returning to the streets more quickly, especially in Spain and Italy.”

The effects of Brexit are still to come

But the UK figures are less dramatic, according to Colijn. “This says nothing about the structural strength of the economy. We have also seen a recovery recently. The UK government has also taken many steps to limit the economic damage. Even more so than in most other countries. Although unemployment will increase increases. And that will cause lasting damage.”

Brexit has not had an impact on current economic figures. “That will happen later this year. Brexit will have a negative impact on the recovery,” the economist said.