Long Covid-19, poor mental health and back problems are among the most common ailments leaving Britons out of work, figures show.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), there are a record 2.8 million people with a long-term illness.
The total – for September to November last year – is more than double the 1.3 million registered unemployed and represents 6.6 percent of people aged 16 to 64 across the country.
It means that 9.3 million Britons are now ‘economically inactive’.
While the latest ONS report doesn’t shed any light on why the rising number of Brits are out of work, separate data from last year revealed the common culprits.
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Of those who are economically inactive due to a long-term health complication, about 320,000 said the main condition was a mental illness, or that they suffered from phobias or other nervous conditions.
A similar percentage blamed depression, bad nerves or anxiety (315,000).
This figure was 15 per cent higher than before the pandemic, with lockdowns and the after-effects of Covid triggering a wave of such problems.
Meanwhile, musculoskeletal problems were also a major cause of economic inactivity and have increased by more than a quarter since the pandemic.
This includes conditions affecting the back or neck (285,000), legs or feet (193,000) and arms or hands (115,000).
However, most people fall under unspecified ‘other’ health or disability conditions.
The group also includes Long Covid, the term for anyone who suffers from lasting symptoms of the virus, such as brain fog and muscle pain.
It was estimated that around 2 million Britons had the condition in March. But that toll is disputed as it is based on self-reported data.
The figures, published by the ONS in July, reflect the main condition that the long-term ill said they were suffering from.
Nearly two in five people who are economically inactive (38 percent of 937,000 people) reported having five or more health problems.
According to the ONS, this suggests that many have ‘interconnected and complex health problems’.
Updated figures, released yesterday, show there are just 641,000 of them the 2.8 million long-term ill people wanted a job.
The ONS defines someone as economically inactive if they are out of work and have not looked for work in the past four weeks and/or cannot start work within two weeks.
The number of long-term sick people has risen steadily since 2019 and is now at a historically high level.
The ONS defines someone as economically inactive if they are out of work and have not looked for work in the past four weeks and/or cannot start work within two weeks.
The government defines employees who are ill for more than four weeks as long-term ill.
Hannah Slaughter of the Resolution Foundation, a think tank, said: ‘Britain has a larger but sicker workforce than we previously thought.
‘Of particular concern is the fact that a record 2.8 million people in the country are currently inactive due to ill health.
‘Tackling rising ill health is a huge social and economic challenge that we will face in the 2020s, as will returning UK employment to pre-pandemic levels, or even further.’
Critics have called on the government to “tackle the problem head-on” in a bid to shake off the idea of a sick nation.
John O’Connell of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘With almost three million people out of work due to long-term illness, it’s not hard to see why we’ve been nicknamed ‘morbid Britain’.
‘Prosperity should be a safety net for those who are struggling, but is instead too often seen as an alternative to work.
‘Getting people back to work is not only good for the taxpayer, but also for those involved. Ministers must therefore tackle this problem immediately before costs really get out of hand.’
It comes against a backdrop of rising chronic diseases, with 36 percent of all working-age people reporting living with at least one long-term health problem – up from 31 percent in the first quarter of 2019.
Experts blame the long wait for treatment on the NHS, with 7.6 million people queuing for routine hospital treatment.
Others have pointed to the explosion of working from home in the wake of the pandemic, which could fuel muscle, back and joint problems.
Poor posture and less movement and exercise – such as not having to walk to work or the office – can lead to musculoskeletal problems, experts say.