The number of people with long-term sickness has hit a record high as worklessness reaches a scale that economists think has become a threat to growth in the economy.
In the three months to April, there were 9.43m people who were economically inactive in Britain, meaning they are neither in a job nor looking for one.
These included a record number of people out of work due to long-term sickness, which rose 55,000 to 2.83m.
It means the worklessness crisis has reached a scale that threatens to undermine the economy’s growth potential, according to Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies.
He said: “This Parliament has seen the largest rise in economic inactivity and largest contraction in the size of the workforce since comparable records began in 1971.
“And this just isn’t happening in other countries, with the UK virtually the only developed economy where the employment rate has fallen since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We need to address this urgently because when employment stops growing the economy stops growing too. Reforming employment support needs to be a top priority for the next Parliament, so that more people can get access to the help that they need to get back into work and get on in work.”
The number of economically inactive workers has risen by 883,000 people since before the pandemic.
The ONS said: “Increases in economic inactivity over the latest quarter were largely because of those aged 50 to 64 years.
“Meanwhile, the annual increase was largely because of those aged 16 to 24 years.”
Read the latest updates below.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDI0LzA2LzExL2Z0c2UtMTAwLW1hcmtldHMtbGF0ZXN0LW5ld3MtZW1wbG95bWVudC13YWdlLWludGVyZXN0LXJhdGVzL9IBAA?oc=5
2024-06-11 09:18:00Z
CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRlbGVncmFwaC5jby51ay9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDI0LzA2LzExL2Z0c2UtMTAwLW1hcmtldHMtbGF0ZXN0LW5ld3MtZW1wbG95bWVudC13YWdlLWludGVyZXN0LXJhdGVzL9IBAA
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar