Productivity
Workforce Dropouts Make UK ‘Sick Man of Europe,’ Report Says
- IPPR report says lost workers cost £5 billion in missing tax
- Commission proposes tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food taxes
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A surge in workforce dropouts due to rising levels of long-term illness has turned the UK into the “literal sick man of Europe” and is costing the state £5 billion ($6.6 billion) a year in lost tax receipts, according to new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank.
Around 900,000 more working-age Britons are now inactive — neither in work nor looking for a job — than at the start of Covid in 2020, with many falling onto costly disability benefits. If trends continue inactivity due to sickness will rise to 4.3 million from 2.8 million today, the IPPR’s cross-party Commission on Health and Prosperity found.