‘Worrying trend’ as nearly twice as many young adults are not working due to ill health

Research shows that nearly twice as many young adults are out of work because of poor health compared to a decade ago.

Most of those affected have lower levels of education: four in five have qualifications only at GCSE level or below.

The Resolution Foundation, the think tank behind the research, said the “worrying trend” has gone completely under the radar.

The ‘Left behind’ report, which was funded by the Health Foundation, says that overall youth unemployment is low.

At the start of 2023, the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) reached 720,000, down from the post-financial crisis peak of 1.1 million.

But there was a near doubling in the number of 18- to 24-year-olds out of work due to ill health, from 94,000 in 2012 to 185,000 in 2022, the report said.

The most common reason these people are absent from work is poor mental health.

Nearly one in four unemployed young people are inactive due to ill health, compared with less than one in 10 in 2012, the study found.

The Resolution Foundation claimed that policy makers’ attention is focused on the increasing ill health among older workers.

But the report warns: “Any drop-out from the labor market at an early age can have scars on future employment prospects, but young people who are unemployed due to poor health are particularly hard hit.”

It notes that four in five young people who have been unemployed due to ill health have been so for at least two years, compared to just a quarter of young people who are unemployed.

The research shows that youth unemployment due to ill health varies little between more and less deprived areas in the UK.

This is in contrast to inactivity due to the poor health of the population as a whole, which is concentrated in deprived areas.

On the contrary, young people living in big cities are the least likely to be unemployed because they don’t feel well.

For example, in 2020 to 2022, 1.8 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds in London, and 2.0 per cent in other cities such as Glasgow and Liverpool – both of which have significant levels of deprivation – were not working because of illness.

By contrast, 3.4 per cent living in small towns or villages, in areas such as Devon and South Wales, were inactive due to ill health.

Researchers say this picture can be explained by the fact that many young people move from smaller places to big cities, first to study and later to take a job for a degree. and graduates.

Louise Murphy, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: ‘We cannot afford to leave young people unemployed due to poor health.

“We need to improve their educational opportunities and ensure they have access to better mental health care.”