Britain isn’t working: the rise of joblessness

Recorded at the Battle of Ideas festival 2024 on Saturday 19 October at Church House, Westminster.

ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION

In the UK, there are currently around 9.4 million people aged between 16 and 64 years old who are economically inactive – neither in work, nor looking for work. Yet official unemployment stands at a relatively low rate of 4.4 per cent. Although part of this high figure for economic inactivity is put down to more older workers retiring early and large numbers of students, it is widely acknowledged that the UK has a worklessness problem.

Some critics argue that the cause is a combination of a lack of well-paid, quality jobs in poorer parts of the country coupled with a benefits system that tops up the lowest wages. This is supported by the fact that many of the sectors with the most acute labour shortages, such as social care and hospitality, are those that pay the least, though some better-paid jobs are facing worker shortages, too.

Ill-health is another factor that is widely cited. There are more than 2.8million people who say they are too sick to work, the highest number since records were first collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The biggest rises are not only among those who can’t work because of mental-health issues, but also among 18– to 24-year-olds, whereas in the past it was mainly older workers who cited sickness as a reason for inactivity.

Some point to ‘long Covid’ and long NHS waiting lists, suggesting there is a real problem of ill health. Others suggest that many may have lost – or never gained – the ‘habit’ of working. Whatever the cause, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) noted in 2023 that the UK has been the worst affected out of the G7 countries since the pandemic.

It seems the UK’s employers need to get inactive people to take up jobs or they will have to rely on high rates of immigration to get things done – with all the attendant political controversy. That said, vacancies – which were well over one million in the aftermath of the lockdowns – have fallen every month for two years, and now stand at just under 900,000; official unemployment levels have been rising, too.

Are the shortages of workers a temporary, post-pandemic blip or a sign of a structural problem? Is it mainly due to the structure of our labour market and the kinds of jobs available, or are there other factors at play? Will the economy suffer if a minority never work? What can be done to get the UK back to work?

SPEAKERS
Julia Hobsbawm OBE
host, The Nowhere Office; founder, Workathon; author, Working Assumptions; commentator and columnist, Bloomberg

Dr Linda Murdoch
researcher on wellbeing and work ethic; former director of careers, University of Glasgow; citizens advice volunteer

Professor Vicky Pryce
chief economic adviser and board member, Centre for Economics and Business Research; author, Women vs Capitalism

Andy Twelves
spokesperson, British Computer Society and The Chartered Institute for IT; trade unionist; founder, OrganiseLab; broadcaster

CHAIR
Phil Mullan
writer, lecturer and business manager; author, Beyond Confrontation: globalists, nationalists and their discontents