Britain’s public finances are being crippled by a steep and sustained rise in the numbers of people of working age who have left the jobs market because of ill health following the pandemic and lockdowns, the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned. The Telegraph has more.
Lockdown wreaked havoc across the economy, devastating children’s education, hammering the public finances and piling pressure on a health service already struggling with the ageing population.
But among its more pernicious and long-term consequences appears to be a steep and sustained rise in the numbers of people of working age who have left the jobs market because of ill health.
At a time of an acute skills shortage, when the economy is struggling to get back above its pre-pandemic size, this represents a loss the nation can scarcely afford – as well as being a desperate personal tragedy for those unable to fulfil their potential.
More than two million people are economically inactive – neither in work nor looking for work – because of ill health. This is an increase of 350,000 compared with pre-pandemic levels, and has dire consequences for the economy and the Government’s already-precarious finances.
Some of those not working are among the 1.4 million claimed sufferers of Long Covid. Other conditions have also become more prevalent.
Among those who are not working because of sickness, almost 620,000 cite mental health problems as the cause, a jump of more than one-third from just under 460,000 a decade ago.
Progressive illnesses such as cancer are up 17%, affecting more than 200,000 people, while heart problems and musculoskeletal conditions have ebbed to take 111,000 and 543,000 out of the workforce respectively.
The reasons this translates into more inactivity are varied.
As well as infecting millions, the pandemic also overwhelmed parts of the health service, delayed treatment for other conditions and contributed to vast waiting lists – meaning those who are out of work for ill health have to wait longer before they can return to the jobs market, and family members are more likely to have to take time out to care for them.
The number awaiting treatment hit 7.4 million in April, up from below five million on the eve of the pandemic and under three million a decade ago.
Poor mental health in particular is increasingly prevalent among the young, and is the most common reason cited by unwell under-50s for their absence from the jobs market.
The benefits system itself may even bear some of the blame.
Those who are out of work, in poor health and claiming benefits are incentivised to claim sickness support instead of jobseekers’ allowance.
Interestingly, on this occasion the rise in economic inactivity appears to be a U.K.-only phenomenon.
The costs of all this additional inactivity are huge. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the benefits bill has risen by £6.8bn for this financial year for the extra 930,000 people who are in poor health, almost half of whom are inactive.
The lost tax revenue owing to those off-work or working at lower capacity is estimated to be £8.9bn. On top of that there are the additional healthcare costs for those who are unwell.
The already humungous bill for the disastrous Covid response just keeps getting bigger. Why this rise in economic inactivity is specifically affecting the U.K. needs to be looked into further.
The Telegraph report is worth reading in full.
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As per the start of the podcast, super self confident public schoolboy fluffs his lines for a full 30 second Biden moment
Sorry about the Guardian link but most go straight to the Pepa Pig content
Search YT ‘boris johnson pepa pig’, brings up loads.
Yes, the Peppa Pig thing is a bit of a red herring. (The character does look like a Picasso version of a hairdryer – that’s quite a witty quip – and although I thought the CBI was mainly about real industry it turns out I was wrong and it also represents members in “creative” fields, so Peppa is on-topic for such an audience.) More relevant is his seeming like a confused person a decade or two older than his actual age, losing it for quite some time, and sniffing as if…as if he felt some kind of irritation in his nose, shall we say. Fat boozers aren’t thin on the ground among British politicians – a mid-50s, clinically obese, drunkard is the norm – but it’s no secret that this particular one is especially debauched, so who knows? Two more screwups like this would be enough to finish his stint in Number 10 – possibly even one in the right context, such as for example saying something truly egregiously ignorant or joky or confused about SARSCoV2 or pandemic policy or an operationally serious foreign policy matter such as Channel fishing, the Polish-Belarusian border, or hey, why not an issue he’s inserted his foot into his mouth over before – Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe?
The whole sequence starts with him reading his lines quite normally but when he loses it he can only stammer brief repetitions if what he has already said.
Most news film reports start after that, perhaps the editors are reserving the earlier footage for when they really want to stick the boot in.
In part of that ramble bozo praises the idea of people having the confidence to remain in the area where they grew up.
Wtf is that all about?
Pushing and trying to normalise the idea of no travel for the oiks from birth, perhaps?
Something along those lines perhaps or internal Passports for we plebs.
You’d think for an award-winning contrarian, TY would have at least evolved his opinion, but no he’s still hung up on
postive PCR casesinfection numbers, Jesus wept!According to a Savanta ComRes survey: 45% in Britain support an indefinite unvaccinated-only lockdown starting in December, against 32% who oppose, with the figures being 55%-26% among those aged 55+.
32% of the population joining an international general strike wouldn’t be bad going at all. And among 18-34s it’s “only” 29% supportive of house-arrest for the unvaxed, with 39% opposed, so the strikebreakers will have an older age profile than the humans. Shall we give it a whirl? Let’s see how good the horrible “Do What You’re Told and Hail the State” killjoys in their 60s are at lifting bins etc.
It’s interesting that an exact month was named in the question.
Savanta ComRes | 1,720 followers on LinkedIn. We are Savanta ComRes – the interface of a global intelligence business with a boutique political research consultancy. | ComRes is the leading research consultancy specialising in Corporate Reputation, Public Policy and Communications. We bridge the worlds of research and communications.
Does that ‘we manufacture BS for the highest bidder’?
People voting for something to bring everyone into line with what they have already done. Not really surprising especially as there is an element of punishment for the resistors.
Companions in misfortune. An awful situation is easier to bear if you can get everyone else in the same boat.
That’s how junkies and smackheads behave towards any of their number who might try to go straight.
They will go to great lengths to keep ‘quitters’ hooked because if that individual is successful it merely confirms the inadequacies of those left behind.
Unless, of course, that boat is the Titanic…
Not to mention having to care for their own aged relatives.
How to alienate 95% of your audience;
“James Delingpole and I talk about our days at Oxford”.
You’re not interested in “How to get into Oxford with two Bs and a C, assuming pater can phone the admissions tutor at Brasenose and get him to nullify his rejection letter?”
My Comprehensive schoolmate went to Cambridge.
The son of WW2 Polish refugees he wrote his thesis on oil bearing shales off the Northumberland coast well before that was topical and based his lucrative career on it.
Cabinet Office note to journalists: the correct term now is “VACCINE MANDATE”, so go easy on calling it “compulsory vaccination”. Thanks, guys!
For example, Liam Hoare does well in this piece in the Guardian: “vaccine mandate” gets mentioned in the header, the caption, and eight times in the body text, not counting a number of appearances of the word “mandate” on its own, adding even more cuddliness. He only uses “compulsory” three times, starting at the end of the second paragraph that most readers won’t reach, since it’s way past the header, strapline, picture, caption, and lede. Nice work, Liam. The Newspeak medal is on its way.
(PS Those of us in the resistance may wish to consider using the word “forced” rather than “compulsory”, in some circumstances at least. Stay supple!)
How many people, when first coming across vaccine ‘mandate’ thought
‘oh yeah, that’s what we did to Palestine and Transjordan after WW1 to pretend they weren’t just more colonies’?
Must have been quite confusing for them.
Well, I find it all VERY offensive. No mention (or should that be womention?) of womandate at all!
I put Johnson’s decline in his cognitive capabilities down to the jabs.
And continuous brow-beating from Carrie, the well-known horror show!
Toby still can’t bring himself to admit James might be right can he?
If you call it a vaccine, you’ve already lost the argument!
Sage words from the incisively intelligent and authoritative Dr David Martin. It were well that commenters and bloggers listened up. I’d hope to see a lot more of his information featured at dailysceptic.org.
https://eraoflight.com/2021/01/18/dr-david-martin-this-is-not-a-vaccine-it-is-a-medical-device/
https://www.bitchute.com/video/Tu6gojaDSrsd/
A Must Watch¡¡ Dr David Martin And Judy A Mikovits – This Is Not A Vaccine¡
2021-02-16
https://www.bitchute.com/video/6xu20c1_urI/
Call To Action: Share This Widely! Focus On Fauci – 5Th Of January
2021-01-04