The phrase “economically-inactive“ makes some people really mad - a 61-year old retiree called it a “slur“ on radio show while parents dont like seeing it on forms (since they work hard raising kids)
Liz Kendall‚ Work and Pensions boss thinks its terrible: this term for people aged 16-64 who arent working or seeking jobs needs a re-think. However focusing on words isnt fixing the real issue - getting folks back to work
Numbers show big troubles: employment is at 74.8% while Rachel Reeves wants it at 80%. About 9m working-age people stay home; many due to health problems. Since early-2020 inactive numbers grew by 900‚000 with long-term sickness being main reason
Young people face extra-hard times: record numbers of 16-24 year olds dont work study or seek jobs. Mental-health problems hit them badly (which makes everything worse since research shows even 1 day of work per week helps mental state)
The UK stands alone with these problems; EU countries actually lowered their inactive numbers by 2.3% since pandemic while UKʼs went up 1.1%. Matthew Taylor from NHS group says: young adults see work-life very negatively. Empty offices dont help - many young workers feel sad seeing no-one at workplace
Money-wise its a huge problem: economists say inactive population (same size as Switzerlandʼs whole population) costs taxpayers 16bn pounds yearly through lost taxes and benefits costs