Economic inactivity: fewer people active in workforce than before Covid in most of UK - worst hit regions

Over half a million extra people are still missing from the UK workforce after the  Covid pandemic, with economic inactivity higher in most parts of the country, according to NationalWorld’s analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

Economic inactivity measures the number of people aged between 16 and 64 not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last 4 weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next 2 weeks.

While the unemployment rate remains relatively low, suggesting that most people who are actively seeking work are able to find it, the rate of economic inactivity shows the overall number of people neither in or looking for work because they are unable or unwilling to do so. This includes students, retirees and people who are too ill to work.

The national economic inactivity rate among the working age population was  21.5% in August to October, down slightly from May to July, with 570,000 more people missing from the workforce compared to the three months between December 2019 and February 2020, just before Covid struck. Although economic inactivity has generally decreased over time since records began in 1971 until the pandemic, there are only three regions - Scotland, East of England and Yorkshire -  where the rate is now lower than it was before the pandemic.

Some regions have seen far more workers drop out of the jobs market. Economic inactivity has increased by 3.4 percentage points among the working age population in the East Midlands since before the pandemic, more than any other region of the UK.

Wales and England have seen a greater increase in the rate of economic inactivity compared with pre-pandemic levels than Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, said there “is more to do to address economic inactivity”.

He said: “I am committed to going further to help people improve their lives through work.We’re working on a bold set of proposals which we’ll bring forward in the new year to tackle this challenge.”

Rachel Gomez, Economist at Pro Bono Economics, said:“Across the UK, there are charities providing the specialist employability support that is so badly needed to bring people back into the workplace, especially those with mental ill health who would otherwise work.

“This is an opportunity for policymakers to bring together this network of charities with specialist expertise to design a programme focused on increasing participation and supporting employers to reach those furthest from the job market.”

Here are all the regions of the UK, ranked by the rise in the rate of economic inactivity between December 2019 to Ferbruary 2020 and August to October 2022.