Unemployment steady but long-term problems persist – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

The unemployment rate holding steady at a relatively low 4.3% is not a significant cause for celebration, as the long-standing problems in the UK’s labour market continue to undermine attempts to reignite a flatlining and underperforming economy.

The major problem concerns the stubbornly high number of adults classified as ‘economically inactive’ – those between the ages of 16 and 64, not in employment but not in search of paid work.

This number has remained at well over 9 million in recent years and makes up over 20% of the UK’s working age population. To create the conditions for a growing economy, the Government will need to encourage and help them return to the workforce to expand the country’s productive power.

The long-term sick constitute a sizable portion of this group, a symptom (at least in part) of an overstretched health service in desperate need of improvement. Upgrading the service, cutting waiting lists, and leading on more preventative healthcare in the NHS is crucial in providing a healthier workforce, and the promised remedy of reform and investment will be central to this task.

‘Economically inactive’ also covers many on the younger and older fringes of this age range. To support the return of many of these people into work, the Government will need to invest at a much faster rate in skills (training and re-training), as well as incentivising work by advocating good working conditions and a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.