Image: Sarah Ginn
A new report commissioned by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) has revealed that 86,000 jobs in the nightlife sector have been lost in the UK since 2019, making the effect of the pandemic devastatingly clear. To further lend credence to the findings, the report also included information on the nightlife sector’s overall value to the UK’s economy. The NTIA found that in 2018, nightlife accounted for 425,000 jobs and made up 1.6% of the GDP in 2019 (that is roughly £36.4 billion).
Nightlife workers across the UK have been raising their frustrations regarding the government’s response to the impact of the pandemic in their industry. Movements Save Our Scene (SOS) and organisations like the NTIA have been demanding that the government take greater action. A recently introduced government-led insurance scheme for venues arrived a little too late; the scheme will only go into effect in severe lockdown, and the UK is currently in the process of moving away from this stage of the pandemic.
The full NTIA report is available to read here.
