The boss of a major UK recruitment agency told MPs that people suffering from health problems including anxiety and fear about leaving their homes linked to lockdown restrictions are contributing to rising unemployment.
In the UK, around one-fifth of working-age adults are economically inactive, a figure that includes students, mothers and fathers caring for children, and those with long-term illnesses. It also includes early retirees who have opted out of work.
Rhodri Thomas, an executive at the Reed Group, said there had been a shift focused on helping people that have not been able to leave their homes because of worsening mental health conditions since the lockdowns.
“We have a lot of participants who are reluctant to work in environments where they have to deal with retail customer service, where they are in busy working environments. Also, we have a lot of participants who want greater flexibility so don’t particularly want to work full-time and are also looking for options to work from home,” he said.
“We’ve seen a real shift over the last two years into delivering more provision that is focused on anxiety and people concerned about leaving their homes,” he added.
“So we are having to deal with people who are more concerned about going back into work, and I think some of the impact of the lockdowns has contributed to those worsening mental health conditions for some participants,” said Thomas.
Fiona Monahan, chief executive of Ingeus, also said that since COVID-19, there are “large mental health issues.”
“For us, I think there are health issues and large mental health issues. Caring responsibilities is something that we are seeing as a barrier, like elder care and childcare,” she said, adding there is also a “skills gap.”
She added that since the pandemic, “people are wanting a lot more flexibility in the work that they are doing, and what we’re seeing is that not all employers are able to provide that level of flexibility.”
‘Enormous and Shocking Waste of Talent and Potential’
In December, a report by the House of Lords said that the UK stands out among developed economies in having a “growing inactivity rate and not reverting to its pre-pandemic trend.”It said that the recent increase in inactivity is also significant because “it breaks from the historic trend of falling inactivity in the UK.”
In January, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made a plea to those who had left the workforce during the pandemic and not returned.
He cited data that showed that millions of people have chosen to exit the workforce, with Hunt warning that businesses would struggle to grow if they cannot find enough staff.
Excluding students, he said that this amounts to 6.6 million people, which he called “an enormous and shocking waste of talent and potential.”
Hunt added that around 5 million of these people do not want to work.
“So, to those who retired early after the pandemic, or haven’t found the right role after furlough, I say: Britain needs you. And we will look at the conditions necessary to make work worth your while,” said Hunt.
The ONS said that this rise in long-term sickness started before the pandemic, but since the pandemic hit the UK in early 2020, the number of people out of work because of long-term sickness had risen by 363,000.
