Are you one of the lucky souls who spotted early on that you could have an 11 day break but only use up 3 days holiday entitlement ? A bizarre string of bank holidays will see the country almost shut for business from Friday the 22nd of April until Tuesday the 3rd of May. Feeling pretty pleased with yourself as you abandon your resentful co-workers to their fate ?
Before you get too smug, the economic impact will be significant, and not in a good way. Many firms will be forced to shut down due to lack of staff and depressed demand, at a time when they can least afford it. Estimates are that up to £30bn of economic output could be lost.
The tourist industry, retailers and airlines, will be winners though, and to cap it all, the sun will shine.
The next set of growth figures out next week could well show that the UK has officially dropped back into recession. Losing 11 days productivity for the next set of figures is hardly a great start. Whatever happened to “all hands to the pumps” and “We’re in this together” ?
Still, for those of us remaining at the grindstone in an attempt to rescue the economy single-handedly, look on the bright side. The AA estimate there will 10 million road users on both the consecutive bank holiday weekends. Serves ‘em right !.
The economy will grind to a halt, gridlock will be unconfined, and it’s all YOUR fault. Not feeling so smug now are you ?
Have a nice (very, very, long) weekend.