Yahoo Finance Number of young people not working due to ill-heath almost doubles
The number of young people not working due to ill health has almost doubled in a decade, according to research.
Worklessness due to ill-heath among 18- to 24-year-olds has risen from 94,000 in 2012 to 185,000 in 2022, the Resolution Foundation said.
Today, almost one-in-four (23%) workless young people are inactive because of ill health, up from less than one-in-10 (8%) in 2012.
The figures also show that among young people not working due to health reasons, with those with poor qualification levels were most affected.
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Four-in-five (79%) young people who are too ill to work have only qualifications at GCSE-level or below, the think tank said.
Louise Murphy, economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Overall worklessness among young people is currently low, but beneath this welcome headline trend lies a worrying rise in the number of young people who are not working due to ill health.
“Worklessness due to ill health among young people is most common in small towns and villages, but reflects these young people’s low levels of education far more than the nature of their area. This highlights the protective effect that education can have on a person’s ability to access mental health support, and to succeed in the labour market.”
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Young people living in major cities are the least likely to be workless because they are unwell. In 2020-2022, 1.8% of 18- to 24-year-olds in London, and 2% of 18- to 24-year-olds in other core cities like Glasgow and Liverpool — both of which have significant levels of deprivation — were not working due to ill health.
In contrast, 3.4% of 18- to 24-year-olds living in places dominated by small towns or villages, such as Derbyshire, Devon and South Wales, were not working due to health reasons.
“We cannot afford to let young people who are workless due to health problems get left behind, so we need both to improve their education opportunities and to ensure that everyone has access to better mental health support,” Murphy added.
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