Too many not working

The perplexing disappearance of working-age people from the employment statistics continues to alarm economists. The jobless rate is at its lowest for nearly 50 years, in part because millions of workers have dropped out altogether. This phenomenon, which appears to be more pronounced in Britain than elsewhere, is keeping inflation high and pointing toward further interestrate increases.

This seems to be another legacy of the Covid lockdowns, with people who stopped working temporarily deciding they could afford to do so permanently.

The inactivity rate appears to be seriously hampering economic recovery and could worsen the recession here.

The impact of Brexit on the economy also remains unquantifiable. Any disadvantages from leaving the single market were supposed to be more than balanced out by the UK’s greater freedom to strike trade deals and remove some of the bloc’s more stultifying regulations.

However, efforts to achieve the latter have been dealt a blow by the discovery of 1400 more laws than previously thought. A timetable to repeal or revise them has slipped until the end of 2023. Now there are mutterings in Whitehall that it is all too difficult. They need to build the bonfire.