Hundreds of thousands of people across the UK have lost their jobs or are about to – including many in Suffolk and Essex – as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic begins to be felt.

Across the country, around 730k UK workers have been removed from the payrolls, according to official figures.

Struggling department store group Debenhams became the latest high street business to announce deep cuts, with a decision on Tuesday, August 11, to slash 2,500 workers as it strives to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

MORE – East Anglian port storing chemical linked with Beirut explosionThere are well-founded fears that figure will rise inexorably as the government’s furlough scheme becomes more costly to employers and then is phased out over the coming months.

According to new data from the Office for National Statistics, employment rates continued to decline in the last month with a further 81,000 jobs disappearing from payrolls across the country.

But although the number of employed people now stands at just under 28.3m, a lag means that this is not reflected in the jobless rate – because many who have lost their posts are not yet recorded as job seekers.

But ONS figures do show a sharp rise in the claimant count since March, with the level increasing by 116.8% across the UK by July to reach 2.7m. Meanwhile, wages have fallen by 2% in real terms, it said.

Across the East of England, latest ONS local labour force estimates - which cover the period from April to June 2020 - suggest 122,000 in the region are out of work and claiming.

The reasons the official unemployment rate – at 3.9% – is not rising is because workers need to be actively looking for a new job, the ONS said, but not being counted among “jobseekers” doesn’t mean they don’t want one, said ONS statistician Jonathan Athow.

“Figures from our main survey show there has been a rise in people without a job and not looking for one, though wanting to work,” he said.

“In addition, there are still a large number of people who say they are working no hours and getting zero pay.”

But figures do show that between May and June employment dropped by the largest amount in a quarter since 2009, with over-65s, the self-employed and part-time workers especially badly hit, and the hours employees are working dropping to record lows.

Here is a list of major British employers which have announced major job cuts since the start of the lockdown on March 23:

Total: 167,548

August 7 - Evening Standard - 115

August 6 - Travelex - 1,300

August 6 - Wetherspoons - 110 to 130

August 5 - M&Co - 380

August 5 - Arsenal FC - 55

August 5 - WH Smith - 1,500

August 4 - Dixons Carphone - 800

August 4 - Pizza Express - 1,100 at risk

August 3 - Hays Travel - up to 878

August 3 - DW Sports - 1,700 at risk

July 31 - Byron - 651

July 30 - Pendragon - 1,800

July 29 - Waterstones - unknown number of head office roles

July 28 - Selfridges - 450

July 27 - Oak Furnitureland - 163 at risk

July 23 - Dyson - 600 in UK, 300 overseas

July 22 - Mears - fewer than 200

July 20 - Marks & Spencer - 950 at risk

July 17 - Azzurri Group (owns Zizzi and Ask Italian) - up to 1,200

July 16 - Genting - 1,642 at risk

July 16 - Burberry - 150 in UK, 350 overseas

July 15 - Banks Mining - 250 at risk

July 15 - Buzz Bingo - 573 at risk

July 14 - Vertu - 345

July 14 - DFS - up to 200 at risk

July 9 - General Electric - 369

July 9 - Eurostar - unknown number

July 9 - Boots - 4,000

July 9 - John Lewis - 1,300 at risk

July 9 - Burger King - 1,600 at risk

July 7 - Reach (owns Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers) - 550

July 6 - Pret a Manger - 1,000 at risk

July 2 - Casual Dining Group (owns Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge) - 1,909

July 1 - SSP (owns Upper Crust) - 5,000 at risk

July 1 - Arcadia (owns TopShop) - 500

July 1 - Harrods - 700

July 1 - Virgin Money - 300

June 30 - Airbus - 1,700

June 30 - TM Lewin - 600

June 30 - Smiths Group - “some job losses”

June 25 - Royal Mail - 2,000

June 24 - Jet2 - 102

June 24 - Swissport - 4,556

June 24 - Crest Nicholson - 130

June 23 - Shoe Zone - unknown number of jobs in head office

June 19 - Aer Lingus - 500

June 17 - HSBC - unknown number of jobs in UK, 35,000 worldwide

June 15 - Jaguar Land Rover - 1,100

June 15 - Travis Perkins - 2,500

June 12 - Le Pain Quotidien - 200

June 11 - Heathrow - at least 500

June 11 - Bombardier - 600

June 11 - Johnson Matthey - 2,500

June 11 - Centrica - 5,000

June 10 - Quiz - 93

June 10 - The Restaurant Group (owns Frankie and Benny’s) - 3,000

June 10 - Monsoon Accessorise - 545

June 10 - Everest Windows - 188

June 8 - BP - 10,000 worldwide

June 8 - Mulberry - 375

June 5 - Victoria’s Secret - 800 at risk

June 5 - Bentley - 1,000

June 4 - Aston Martin - 500

June 4 - Lookers - 1,500

May 29 - Belfast International Airport - 45

May 28 - Debenhams (in second announcement) - “hundreds” of jobs

May 28 - EasyJet - 4,500 worldwide

May 26 - McLaren - 1,200

May 22 - Carluccio’s - 1,000

May 21 - Clarks - 900

May 20 - Rolls-Royce - 9,000

May 20 - Bovis Homes - unknown number

May 19 - Ovo Energy - 2,600

May 19 - Antler - 164

May 15 - JCB - 950 at risk

May 13 - Tui - 8,000 worldwide

May 12 - Carnival UK (owns P&O Cruises and Cunard) - 450

May 11 - P&O Ferries - 1,100 worldwide

May 5 - Virgin Atlantic - 3,150

May 1 - Ryanair - 3,000 worldwide

April 30 - Oasis Warehouse - 1,800

April 29 - WPP - unknown number

April 28 - British Airways - 12,000

April 23 - Safran Seats - 400

April 23 - Meggitt - 1,800 worldwide

April 21 - Cath Kidston - 900

April 17 - Debenhams - 422

March 31 - Laura Ashley - 268

March 30 - BrightHouse - 2,400 at risk