The number of people permanently off work for "health reasons" has risen sharply in the last 5 years and affects relatively young people:
"Ministers have grown increasingly alarmed over a dramatic rise in the number of working-age adults falling out of the workforce due to health conditions over recent years, with young adults fuelling much of the increase.
As many as one in five working-age adults – more than 9 million in total – are now in a position termed by statisticians as “economically inactive”, where they are neither in a job nor looking for one. For almost 3 million, the main reason is long-term sickness – the highest level on record."
It's very odd to claim that the solution is for employers to somehow spend large sums to mollycoddle employees in order to lure young people back to work... Indeed, it seems unlikely that the underlying reason for the situation is really 'health'.
tene80i•41m ago
It’s possible to be overly dismissive of mental health issues, and it’s possible to ignore the need for resilience. The report itself looks at exactly this, despite the focus of this headline. It argues employers, employees and government all have a role to play.
SideburnsOfDoom•37m ago
> Indeed, it seems unlikely that the underlying reason for the situation is really 'health'.
Why is that your conclusion based on nothing? In the last 5 years, is there any reason why population health might have declined? Does anything come to your mind at all?
Did you miss the whole COVID thing entirely? People did and still do get COVID, it's not (entirely) gone. And it does frequently have long-term health consequences.
Another likely causal factor is the decline in the NHS.
clickety_clack•20m ago
I think we are allowed to use common sense. I think it’s pretty safe to say that everyone has some kind of health condition, but there’s no way that one in five working adults has a health condition so bad that they cannot work.
If I truly could not work, I would want the slackers rooted out too, otherwise they will destroy supports for the people that actually need them.
SideburnsOfDoom•7m ago
> but there’s no way that one in five working adults has a health condition so bad that they cannot work.
I would go further, I would also say that there are no "working adults" who also "cannot work".
You don't see ill people walking around? Yes, that's how it works, it doesn't prove anything. We're not seeing what we don't see, and can't draw "common sense" inferences from that missing data. You need actual studies.
arethuza•9m ago
I do also wonder about the negative effects of ubiquitous social media usage on health (mostly on mental health but that then impacts other areas). Of course, that's not something that is specific to the UK.
miningape•7m ago
Strange, who would've thought paying people not to work would result in people... not working.
mytailorisrich•1h ago
"Ministers have grown increasingly alarmed over a dramatic rise in the number of working-age adults falling out of the workforce due to health conditions over recent years, with young adults fuelling much of the increase.
As many as one in five working-age adults – more than 9 million in total – are now in a position termed by statisticians as “economically inactive”, where they are neither in a job nor looking for one. For almost 3 million, the main reason is long-term sickness – the highest level on record."
It's very odd to claim that the solution is for employers to somehow spend large sums to mollycoddle employees in order to lure young people back to work... Indeed, it seems unlikely that the underlying reason for the situation is really 'health'.
tene80i•41m ago
SideburnsOfDoom•37m ago
Why is that your conclusion based on nothing? In the last 5 years, is there any reason why population health might have declined? Does anything come to your mind at all?
Did you miss the whole COVID thing entirely? People did and still do get COVID, it's not (entirely) gone. And it does frequently have long-term health consequences.
Another likely causal factor is the decline in the NHS.
clickety_clack•20m ago
If I truly could not work, I would want the slackers rooted out too, otherwise they will destroy supports for the people that actually need them.
SideburnsOfDoom•7m ago
I would go further, I would also say that there are no "working adults" who also "cannot work".
You don't see ill people walking around? Yes, that's how it works, it doesn't prove anything. We're not seeing what we don't see, and can't draw "common sense" inferences from that missing data. You need actual studies.
arethuza•9m ago