Lockdown has made jobless too scared to leave home for work

LOCKDOWNS have contributed to Britain’s out-of-work crisis by making people scared to leave their homes, the country’s largest recruitment agency has told MPS.

Rhodri Thomas, managing director at the Reed group, said a rise in health problems, including anxiety linked to Covid restrictions, was the biggest driver of rising joblessness.

Mr Thomas told the Commons work and pensions committee that many unemployed people now do not want to take posts “where they are in busy working environments”.

A large number are also reluctant to return to the labour force post-pandemic unless they can find parttime roles where they can work from home, he added.

Ministers are readying to unveil plans to cut down on the nine million people who are economically inactive, meaning they are neither in a job nor looking for one.

Britain is the only major country to have experienced a sustained rise in joblessness since the start of Covid, caused by long-term illness and over50s retiring early. The phenomenon, which comes at a time when companies are struggling to fill record vacancies, is slowing down the UK’S post-pandemic recovery.

Mr Thomas told MPS the hangover from lockdown is hampering the drive to get more people back to work. “We have a lot of participants who are reluctant to work in environments where they have to deal with retail customer service, where they are in busy working environments,” he said.

“Also we have a lot of participants who want greater flexibility so don’t particularly want to work full-time and are also looking for options to work from home.

“We’ve seen a shift over the last two years into delivering more provision that is focused on anxiety and people concerned about leaving their homes.

“So we are having to deal with people who are more concerned about going back into work and I think some of the impact of the lockdowns has contributed to those worsening mental health conditions for some participants.”

Richard Clifton from the Shaw Trust, a work support charity, told the committee there had been a “post-pandemic change in attitudes linked to health”.

‘Some of the impact of the lockdowns has contributed to those worsening mental health conditions’