The UK’s employment rate has fallen more than any other G7 country, according to the latest data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
After a general increase since early 2012, the employment rate in the UK fell at the start of the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics and the OECD. Unlike EU countries, however, where the average employment rate increased by 1.3 percentage points, from 68% to 69.3%, between the last quarter of 2019 and the first of 2022, the UK failed to recover at such a pace. rhythm.
At 75.7%, the UK employment rate is 0.1 percentage point higher than in the previous quarter, but still 0.8 percentage point lower than before the pandemic.
Although it’s unclear exactly what is behind the UK’s failure to catch up, Tony Wilson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, speculates that Brexit (which dramatically reduced migration to the EU), a lack of access to support and a furlough scheme that offered no obligation to retrain staff, could all have a role to play. Others cited an increase in long-term illnesses as a result of the pandemic and an increase in student numbers.
[See also: Does your salary mean you’re rich? And what makes you upper, middle or working class? We ask the British public]
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