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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 9, No. 3

Publication Date: March, 25, 2021

DOI: 10.14738/abr.93.9869. 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.

Reflecting on the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Businesses,

Minority Groups and Their Implications for Socio-Economic

Wellbeing in Britain

Felix Nana Kofi Ofori

REACT Humanitarian Network, Oxford, UK.

ABSTRACT

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.

Key words: Businesses, strategic-policies, government, Covid-19,

Socio-economic and minorities

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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.

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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.93.9869.

INTRODUCTION

The Coronavirus Pandemic (Covid-19) has distorted aspects of human existence by

suppressing business activities, social interactions, cultural dynamics and employment

opportunities, particularly among minority groups in the British society. The lockdown

restrictions, which stemmed from governmental policies to curb the spread of the virus,

have interfered with the general wellbeing of the public, especially the minority

communities, thereby undercutting their socio-economic prosperity. The economic and

social challenges that ensued from the pandemic raises the question: whether the

strategies adopted by the British government to manage the fallouts of the crisis, creatively

lend themselves to re-vamping businesses and welfare of the affected minority groups in

the country. To answer this question, the article examines the impact of Covid-19 on the

British economy by discussing the implications for the aviation industry, hospitality sector,

health institution, minority community, as well as perspectives on the effectiveness of

government ‘s strategies to resolve the pandemic.

The British Economy in the face of Covid-19

Crucially, the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic are more like antiseptic than

anaesthetic: they created problems that are viewed through scientific prism as world

leaders explore myriad of strategies to address the problem, politically. Among the several

challenges confronting the British government and the economy, the Retail and Pubs

bosses’ requested for an extension of the government’s support packages to help them stay

in business without collapsing. Also, The Independent Retailers Association is reported to

have said that: “more support is more than ever needed if jobs are to be protected. The

rates holiday must be extended for another 12 months for non-essential retailers” [1].

According to the Lock, Public Houses (Pubs) are estimated to have generated about £22.4

billion in revenue for the year 2018 from 47,600 outlets, which operate in the United

Kingdom (UK) [2]. This figure symbolizes substantive economic and employment

opportunities offered by the sector to Britain and its diverse populations. However, with

the closure of such economic centres, it is feared that many people would lose employment

and regular means of livelihood without the government’s financial package. The

RetailEconomics on the contrary, has stated that “the Retail sector generated £394 billion

and created 2.9 employment opportunities in the 2019 of the UK economy respectively”

[3]. This suggests that the implosion of the Covid-19 pandemic has had adverse

consequences on Pubs, including the Retailing sectors respectively. According to the Office

for National Statistics (ONS) [4], the economic downturn resulting from the coronavirus

(Covid-19) restrictions, equally undercuts the business operations of pubs and retailers

which constitute substantive part of the broader UK economy. Similarly, the ONS has

declared that: “Overall, the UK economy, measured by gross domestic product (GDP),

shrank by a record 19.8% in the second quarter (April to June) of 2020, following the start

of the first lockdown on 23 March. By September 2020, GDP was still down 8.2 compared

with February. Services such as hospitality –including pubs, restaurants and hotels- recorded almost no output in April-May” [5]. Obviously, a decline in GDP of the UK’s

economy has close relationship with stagnations envisaged in the operations of the Pubs

and Retailing sectors, which consequently suppress employment prospects.

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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol 9, Issue 3, March-2021

The Bank of England (BoE), has projected a dismal outlook for the economy arguing that:

“Looking back, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the measures designed to

tackle it, have had dramatic effect on economic activity in recent

times. As Covid-19 spread early this year, increased social distancing,

higher uncertainty and the lockdown caused activity to weaken very

sharply in March and April. Since then, as the lockdown has eased, the

rebound in activity appears to have been a bit faster than the scenario

in the May MPR. Even so, GDP fell by about 22% over Q1 and Q2

combined, the biggest two quarters decline on record” [6].

With a grim economic outlook which has persisted from March 2020 through to 2021,

there is little hope among policy-makers, economists and political leaders that the crises

ensuing from the pandemic has turned the corner. These sentiments firmly suggest that the

British economy, like other developed economies in the world, had experienced difficulties

with severe implications for many sectors, especially the aviation, hospitality, health and

minority groups of the country, as examined subsequently.

The Implications of Covid-19 Pandemic on Britain’s Aviation Industry

One sector which holds critical sway in the British economy but has been blighted by the

Covid-19 pandemic, is the aviation industry. According to Hancock and Powley: ”The

International airline trade body had already warned that global air travel demand could

fall for the first time in more than 10 years, cutting the industry’s revenues by almost

$30bn. But this was based on the impact of coronavirus on Asia, before it had started to

spread more widely to Italy and South Korea” [7]. The restriction of aviation activities has

direct implications on the economy and employment prospects; because Heathrow Airport,

which positioned as an international hub for global travellers, witnessed sharp decline in

revenue sources from Covid-19-related restrictions. For example, 4 out of the 5 major

terminals of Heathrow Airport had been shut-down, culminating in job losses among

various operatives, namely: air stewardess, air-line security agents, loaders, caterers and

shop- assistants. Equally, the pandemic has weakened the aviation industry by further

closing down income-generating businesses in the airport terminals. In this respect, Giles,

opined that: “Restrictions on travels have also seen a plunge in the number of Chinese

going abroad, a crucial source of income for the tourism sector and luxury brands” [8].

With the major airports in locked down, several brands – Gucci, Channel, Rolex and

Burberry among others- which are peculiarly attractive to the Chinese tourists, had

witnessed limited patronage thus reducing employment opportunities among those in that

sector. Since Britain is one of the preferred destinations among Chinese tourists, the ban on

foreign travels coupled with the closures of many businesses at the airports, indicates that

people working in the sector would struggle financially.

Apart from the loss of employment opportunities across the five terminals of Heathrow

Airport, it has been reported that the real figure of job losses per week at Heathrow was

around 1,200 respectively. Feehan has explained, that: “Covid-19 has decimated the

aviation industry, which has led to the unprecedented drop in passenger numbers at

Heathrow, costing the airport over £1 billion since last March” [9]. An independent

research conducted by the Oxford Economics has further indicated that: