Falling employment and worsening health in the UK: connected or distinct trends?

Two concerning economic and social trends in the UK emerging from the covid-19 pandemic are the fall in employment of people aged 50 and over and the increase in sickness levels in the population. The drop in employment has not been caused by rising unemployment (when people are generally searching for work), but rather by rising “economic inactivity” (when they generally are not).1 These declines have not occurred in most industrialised nations with a notable exception of the US.23 A natural conclusion might be that the two trends are related. But a closer look at the data implies that—in 2020-21 at least—these issues have been quite distinct.

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