The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that 2.81 million people are economically inactive due to long-term sickness.
The figure of 2.81m is from March-May 2024, it does represent a reduction of 17,000 from the previous quarter's statistics (2.83m). However, the figure does still represent an increase of 151,941 on the same period last year and 796,044 higher than the same period in 2019. The split between genders was 1.52m women and 1.29m men inactive due to long-term sickness. The overall figure of those economically inactive sat at 9.38m in the last quarter, showing long-term sickness is a major factor in this inactivity. Julia Turney, partner and head of platform and benefits, Barnett Waddingham:...
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