Wales faces unemployment on a scale not seen in the UK "for decades" due to the coronavirus pandemic, the country's finance minister has said.

Ken Skates warned the full economic effects of the virus would not be felt until current wage support schemes offered by the UK Government are ended in the autumn.

The looming employment crisis in Wales was set out as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said an estimated 612,000 people across the UK lost their jobs between March and May, while job vacancies also slumped to a record low last month.

Mr Skates said while the UK-wide job retention scheme had been a "success", Welsh ministers were now preparing "unprecedented" support packages to help people back into jobs if they are made redundant when it ends in October.

On Tuesday he told the Welsh Government's daily Covid-19 briefing in Cardiff: "All indicators point to unemployment on a scale not seen in Wales or across the the UK for decades.

"We did not expect the full impact on employment to be felt until the wage support schemes are ended in the autumn.

"But in Wales we are preparing now so that we can act decisively in the coming months to support people back into jobs and training as soon as possible."

Mr Skates said though Wales's unemployment stood at 3 per cent, compared to 3.9 per cent across the UK, he said the figure "masks what is likely to happen", adding: "We should assume unemployment will rise quite considerably."

The Welsh Government's £500 million economic resilience fund, which he described as "the most generous package of support for businesses anywhere in the UK", had also been successful in supporting businesses who had "slipped through the gaps" of the UK-wide scheme, he said.

Mr Skates said £40 million would be used from it to make sure every person over the age of 16 in Wales was offered "support and advice" to find work, pursue self-employment, or find a place in education or training.

More than 316,000 people in Wales are currently furloughed, with 102,000 self-employed people accessing the self employment income support scheme.

The number of people in Wales claiming out-of-work benefits in the middle of May had doubled to 118,600 compared to the same time last year, according to the ONS.

Later on Tuesday, Public Health Wales said a further eight people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of deaths to 1,456, while the total number of cases increased by 65 to 14,869.