9.2m adults not looking for work

Young behind surge in the number of economically inactive Britons

NEARLY three million Britons under the age of 25 are not working or looking for a job, official figures show.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that, overall, more than a fifth of adults in the UK are deemed to be economically inactive.

It means around 9.25million people aged between 16 and 64 are not in employment and are not seeking work – a rise of about 700,000 since before the Covid pandemic.

Almost three million of them are under-25s – an increase of 384,000 since February 2020.

The figures come amid concerns about the impact of worker shortages on the economy. More than 900,000 jobs are currently unfilled.

Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, told BBC Radio 4: ‘If we look over the last year we’ve seen that increases in inactivity have been concentrated in the younger age groups, particularly in the 16 to 24-year-old age group. We’ve also seen employment going down for young people. While the number of people [in work] has gone up overall, that isn’t true for the 16 to 24-year-old age group.’

Ms McKeown added that recent data revealed ‘historically high levels of people who are inactive because they are long-term sick’. Separately, a Treasury select committee hearing was told research suggested that mental health problems were a key factor in the number of young people being absent from the workforce. Office for Budget Responsibility chairman Richard Hughes told the hearing that ‘persistently high levels of inactivity seem to be a feature of the post-pandemic environment and one which is worrying from the point of view of human welfare and fiscal sustainability’.

Asked if this was linked to long NHS waiting lists, he replied: ‘People out of the workforce for health reasons is now the single largest reason to be outside the workforce if you’re an adult as well as the fastest growing reason. When we looked at it and compared it to people on the waiting list we didn’t find that much overlap Their reasons for being outside the labour force didn’t seem to be principally because they were also the people who were on the NHS waiting list.

‘It seemed to have multiple different causes. For older people it was oftentimes because they had musculoskeletal conditions; for younger people it tends to be more mental health issues. So there are more complex issues than just the waiting list.’

yesterday’s findings come after official data last month confirmed the UK fell into recession at the end of last year after output fell for two quarters in a row.

Data due to be released today will show how the economy fared in January amid expectations the recession will prove short-lived.

‘Mental health is an issue’

WITHOUT labour, wrote the Greek tragedian Sophocles, nothing prospers. Idleness deprives individuals of the dignity that work confers and lands society with the bill for their upkeep.

So, the spiralling numbers of people who are economically inactive – of working age but neither employed nor looking for a job – should trouble us all.

Office for National Statistics figures released yesterday show that more than a fifth of the UK’s potential workforce have dropped out of the employment market.

That is a staggering 9.25million people, a rise of 700,000 since the pandemic.

The bare numbers are shocking enough. But detailed examination reveals an even more worrying trend.

Immediately after the pandemic it was predominantly the over-50s who were deserting the workforce, many deciding to take early retirement.

Now, however, the quitters are getting younger. In the past year, the number of economically inactive 16 to 24-year-olds rose by 248,000 to almost 3million, many citing poor mental health as the main reason.

Does this mean we have an epidemic of psychiatric illness, or are the young simply less able than previous generations to deal with the inevitable knocks and disappointments life throws at us?

Either way, something must be done to channel them into work – for their own sakes. Nothing will make them feel more depressed than moping around at home with no job and no sense of purpose.

The hand-wringing Left will no doubt blame inadequate mental health services, or the malign influence of social media for their plight. But the young must surely learn to be more resilient.

It’s also incumbent on Government and health professionals not to let them duck out of work too easily. A fulfilling job may be exactly the medicine they need.

Yes, psychiatric illness is a genuine problem and can be debilitating. But we should be careful not to confuse that with the angst most of us go through during our formative years.

In the long run, medicalising every bout of sadness and misfortune does no one any favours. Morally and economically, it creates more problems than it solves.