The number of UK households in which no adult is working has reached a 12-year high, highlighting a deepening jobs crisis that experts warn is stifling Britain's economic growth.
In the first quarter of this year, there were 269,000 non-student households in which no adult was employed at all, the highest number since spring 2012, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This represents an increase of 12% over the same period last year.
Between January and March, 4.3 million people aged 16 to 64 lived in households where no adult worked, nearly 300,000 more than at the end of last year and the highest total in seven years.
The worrying trend is part of a wider unemployment crisis that threatens to cripple UK growth as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak prepares to hold a general election in July. Nationally, 9.4 million working-age adults were economically inactive at the beginning of the year, neither working nor looking for work. This number has increased by 832,000 compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP and former business secretary, described high levels of economic inactivity as a “huge problem” for the country. He stressed that non-working individuals do not contribute to GDP growth, which reduces the state's ability to finance tax cuts or public services. He said this situation fuels calls for increased immigration to fill the labor shortage.
Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, noted that the rise in the number of unemployed households was likely to be driven by an increase in youth unemployment. Recent data suggests that the number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training reached a nine-year high of 900,000 at the start of this year, an 18% increase on pre-pandemic levels.
Wilson warned that long periods of interruption from work and education during youth can cause lasting damage, both to the individuals affected and to society and the economy. He stressed that young people who remain out of the labor force in the long term are more likely to suffer from poor health, lower income, and deprivation of their children.
In response to the crisis, Prime Minister Sunak pledged National Service for 18-year-olds. However, Wilson criticized the plan, arguing that it would divert money from existing programs designed to help economically inactive individuals return to the labor market. The proposed scheme, estimated to cost around £2.5bn, will be funded primarily by the UK's Shared Prosperity Fund, which supports community organisations.
As the employment crisis deepens, addressing the root causes of economic inactivity and providing targeted support to young people and other vulnerable groups will be crucial to supporting the UK’s economic growth and societal wellbeing.