Why More than 20 Percent of UK Adults Are Not Looking for Work
Nigerians and people from other parts of the world are traveling to European countries, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom in search of work and greener pastures.
One of the preferred destinations is the United Kingdom (UK), with its capital being London.
However, for adults in the UK, more than one-fifth (20 percent) are not finding work, according to official figures.
The UK economic inactivity rate was 21.8% before, between November and January, which is higher than a year ago.
This means that 9.2 million people aged between 16 and 64 in the UK are not working or actively seeking employment.
The total figure is over 700,000 higher than before the coronavirus pandemic.
Concerns have been raised over the shortage of workers affecting the UK economy.
The health of the UK economy is in the spotlight with the upcoming general election in the coming months, and major political parties are pledging to boost growth.
The UK entered a recession at the end of last year when the economy shrank for two consecutive three-month periods, but the latest official statistics show that the level of unemployment is steady.
The figures also show that wage rises are slowing again, although pay is still rising more than inflation.
However, the number of people unemployed or not actively seeking work has remained high in recent years since rising during the pandemic.
Long-term sickness is one of the main reasons for about one-third of the working-age population being inactive in the labor force.
But other groups within the bracket, as defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), include students, people caring for family or their home, people with disabilities, and people retiring early and discouraged workers.
More women are classified as economically inactive compared to men.
The ONS says the latest figures suggest that the number of people inactive due to sickness has decreased in recent months but is still higher than estimates from a year ago.
It added that the chances of people aged 16 to 34 becoming economically inactive have increased, but the number of people aged 35 to 64 has decreased.
One recent report suggests that people in their early 20s may be unable to work due to sickness more than people in their early 40s, with cases of poor mental health believed to be on the rise.
Workforce shortages have prompted Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to outline a series of measures.
Most recently in his budget last week, which aims to encourage people to find work or increase their work hours.
Policies he outlined include reducing the starting rate for National Insurance Contributions from 10% to 8% for 27 million workers from April 6, along with an extension of free childcare services for working parents.
But business groups say more needs to be done to get more people into work due to concerns over the UK’s long-term weak economic growth.
Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, added that cutting NI rates was the “right call” but not a “silver bullet to encourage enough people to work.”
“To get inactivity down, the government needs to focus on childcare, transport, and address NHS waiting lists,” he said.
“The budget doesn’t add up to the industrial and workforce strategy we really need despite the Chancellor’s obvious interest in workforce matters.”
Alexandra Hall-Chen, principal policy adviser for employment at the Institute of Directors, said many companies were “still struggling to access the skills they need.”
“Any future government should prioritize tackling skills shortages and increasing labor force participation at the center of its growth plan,” she added.
‘Disconnect between employers and young people’
Chris Bingham, CEO of energy supplier Greenarc Ltd in West Yorkshire, said businesses need to think about how to encourage people into the workforce and “give them more of what they want,” especially to younger employees.
He said people aged 16 to 24 did not complete their education due to the pandemic.
“They are entering a workforce and business community that is still struggling to understand how they will work post-Covid,” he told the BBC Today program.
“I think there is a clear disconnect between the employer and young employees,” he added, arguing that any future government needs to focus more on apprenticeships and workplace engagement rather than the blanket university route.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told the BBC that the UK had a “very healthy” labor market and the government “plans to reduce economic inactivity significantly.”
The government’s official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), estimates that policies on childcare expansion, welfare reform, and personal tax cuts are predicted to increase the UK labor supply by more than 300,000.
But the OBR says frozen personal tax thresholds “will also weigh on work incentives,” meaning the increase will be closer to 200,000.
Labour shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said millions of people were “locked out of work” due to long-term sickness on the “Tories’ watch.”
She said Labour could reduce NHS waiting lists as part of their plan to get more people into work.
As well as the economic activity figures, the ONS also revealed that:
- The unemployment rate remained steady at 3.9% for the three months from November to January, higher than economists’ forecasts.
- Growth in regular pay, excluding bonuses, slowed again but at 6.1%, it was still higher than inflation, which rose by 2%.
- There were 203,000 working days lost due to strike action across the UK in January 2024.
- Job vacancies from December 2023 to February 2024 were down by 224,000 from the previous year, but they remained 107,000 above pre-Covid levels.
The ONS has issued warnings about the reliability of its job market data, with the survey from which it obtains its results having a smaller number of respondents than it has historically.
Questions about the data for the job market raise issues for the Bank of England, which uses ONS releases to measure the health of the UK economy.
