LONDON: Britain's unemployment rate is probably higher than the most recent official measure of 4.5% and the government's furlough scheme is not preventing an adjustment of the labour market to the COVID-19 pandemic, a top Bank of England official said.

"It's not that the furlough scheme is stopping the kind of adjustments that we're going to have to see in the labour market over a number of years in response to this crisis," Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said.

"My own view is that when the furlough scheme ends, I don't think we will have a sudden rush of job losses."