Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Business

Illness takes 500,000 out of UK workforce

by November 11, 2022
November 11, 2022
Illness takes 500,000 out of UK workforce

Half a million people have left the workforce in the past three years because they are suffering from long-term illness.

The number of people who are unable to work because of a long-term condition has risen from 2 million in spring 2019 to 2.5 million this summer, according to an analysis published by the Office for National Statistics.

Covid-19 has accelerated an existing trend. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 360,000 people have been forced to leave the workforce because they suffer from a health condition that affects their ability to work.

Long-term illness now accounts for 28 per cent of people who are “economically inactive”, meaning that they are neither working nor looking for work, up from 25 per cent at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020.

Unemployment rates have fallen close to a historic low at 3.5 per cent as more people drop out of the workforce altogether rather than seek new jobs. A total of about 600,000 people have quit the workforce over the course of the coronavirus crisis.

More than two thirds of workers who become inactive because of long-term sickness were already inactive for another reason. The most common reason was taking time out to look after the family or the home, which accounted for 22 per cent, or 185,000 people.

Another 21 per cent were temporarily sick or injured before they reported that they suffered from long-term sickness. A further 18 per cent were retired and 12 per cent were students.

The UK is the only rich country that has recorded a sustained rise in economic inactivity since the pandemic. It is on track to be the only country among its peers in the G7 and other large economies to have a lower proportion of workers in employment next year than it had before Covid, according to research by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), the think tank, and the Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

The report found that the drop in the size of the workforce was also driven by fewer people returning to work. There has been a 215,000 rise in the number of people who have been out of work for more than five years owing to ill health.

Tony Wilson, IES director and one of the authors of the report, said: “The biggest factor when we’re looking at how long people have been out of work is the growth in the number of people out of work for more than three years.

“That might mean that people who are out of work are getting sicker, or people who are out of work are finding it harder to get back into work and are less likely to come back than before. I think it’s a bit of both.”

There has also been a rise of 100,000 in the number of people with ill health who have never worked. The rise in the number of students accounts for two thirds of this group; young disabled people who have never worked make up the remaining third.

“It is less likely to be that young people are sicker now than they were, more that they are finding it harder to get jobs for reasons such as a lack of access to health support, and employers not being supportive in thinking about job design and how you can support people in work,” Wilson said.

The ONS said that more understanding about the impacts of NHS waiting times, long Covid and an ageing workforce was needed to explain the exodus from the workforce due to illness.

Read more:
Illness takes 500,000 out of UK workforce

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Electric car sales hit by cost of living squeeze and energy prices
next post
Bitcoin to lose a quarter of its value in weeks, analyst warns

You may also like

Confluent for Startups Program launches in the UK...

July 4, 2023

BBC demands Huw Edwards return over £200,000 in...

August 9, 2024

Oracle NetSuite unveils new innovations to help businesses...

October 17, 2023

HSBC announces it will close 114 branches across...

November 30, 2022

Business secretary under fire over delayed talks as...

December 16, 2024

Four new directors for Bank of England board

August 11, 2022

Eurostar Amsterdam-to-London services to be suspended for six...

November 27, 2023

UK Entrepreneurs unite to help business owners succeed...

September 12, 2022

Why every startup should do a ‘pre-mortem analysis’

June 20, 2024

The Pros And Cons Of 4-Day Work Weeks:...

April 3, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Probe into Biden’s alleged mental decline cover-up deepens with more former White House officials to testify

      July 2, 2025
    • MAGA law group fights to expose how Biden’s DEI agenda may have tainted life-saving organ transplants

      July 2, 2025
    • Israel accepts Trump-led ceasefire plan that could end Gaza war within 60 days

      July 2, 2025
    • Trump to meet with Netanyahu as he pushes for ceasefire between Israel, Gaza

      July 1, 2025
    • Elon Musk claims of ‘pork’ in bill not even possible, Budget chair says

      July 1, 2025
    • Top 10 July 2025 Stock Picks You Shouldn’t Miss

      July 1, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,354)
    • Investing (2,093)
    • Politics (15,910)
    • Stocks (3,183)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved