A fifth of working-age Brits out of work and not looking for work

Some nine million working-age Britons are not in work nor looking for work, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Britain’s worklessness crisis has been laid bare as the UK’s economic inactivity rate has reached 21.8 per cent between November and January. Of the 9.3 million people out of work (a 700,000 increase since lockdown), 2.8 million are out of work because of long-term illness. 

New analysis from Policy in Practice for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has also revealed that 3.9 million people on out-of-work benefits have no “work search requirements”, meaning they receive their benefits without having to look for a job. 

After the first lockdown in 2020, 2.5 million people on out-of-work benefits had work search requirements attached to their benefits. Last year, that figure had dropped to 1.6 million, meaning that almost one million extra people received out-of-work benefits with no requirement that they at least try to return to employment. 

In 2023 to 2024, the government is forecast to spend £276.8 billion on the social security system, with total welfare spending forecast to be 10.2 per cent of GDP and 22.6 per cent of the total amount the government spends in 2023 to 2024. In August 2023, 22.6 million people were claiming some form of benefits, in England, Scotland and Wales.

According to analysis from the Telegraph in June last year, the ballooning welfare state cost the average taxpayer £2,000 per year. With so many out of work, and now more than ever receiving benefits with no requirement to return to work, that figure is set to rise. 

Researchers at Policy in Practice said that the pandemic has led to a sustained increase in the number of people reliant on the state and not required to look for work: “The post-pandemic trend is markedly different. We see an increase in the number of people not subject to work requirements. The pandemic led to a permanent growth in the DWP caseload too, meaning more people are now supported by the welfare system.”

Worryingly, the increase in worklessness due to long-term ill health is rising much faster in younger people than in the older generations. From 2019-2022, the number of economically inactive 16-24 year olds rose by 29 per cent, and for 25-34 year olds it rose by a whopping 42 per cent. This is compared to 6 per cent for 35-49 year olds and 16 per cent for 50-65 year olds. That economic inactivity due to ill health is a bigger issue among the younger generations who the country needs to work to pay for the aging population is a huge problem. 

Adding to the economic nightmare is the country’s reliance on London. In 2018, only London, the South East and the East of England had a net fiscal surplus, with the regions that contributed the least in tax receiving more per head in welfare spending than the economically successful regions. This is an imbalance that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities has been unable to address. 

There is a pervasive feeling among Brits that the country isn’t working. Well, a fifth of its labour force isn’t. Many offer grandiose conclusions about how to get Britain moving again. Those conclusions should grow out of addressing these dire figures. A country cannot work if its citizens don’t.

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