Nine million working-age Britons are currently out of work, either unemployed, long-term sick, or simply out of action. This was exacerbated by the pandemic, but the continuation of the workless trends lies somewhere between policy drift and structural issues.
Welfare dependency and skill mismatches that have accumulating over decades have created a setting in which it is hard to return to work — or even attractive, in some cases.
This has resulted in a bloated welfare bill funded by fewer of us paying more taxes.
As Matthew Elliott argues in City AM, policymakers' top question is now bi longer simply how to get the books square — it's how to get people back into work in meaningful, productive ways.
But unless corporations can produce the right jobs and training, thhis won't happen, Elliott says. Without a coordinated effort that encompasses government incentives and private enterprise, millions will be stuck in cycles of idleness.
The role of the Employer: training and incentives.
There are some good initiatives out there... for example law firm A&O Shearman employs coaching and training to reintegrate over-50s into work, while Accenture's coding bootcamps aim at younger individuals not in work or education. They're good examples, but these are anecdotal, not systemic.
What we need are strong incentives for re-entry and upskilling programmes that focus on giving people the skills required to go into expanding sectgrs such as tech, healthcare, and the green industries.
Final thoughts.....
At the end of the day it's unlikely that Britain is going to grow economically unless we get more of the workforce into meaningful jobs, and this is something we're simply not focussing on at the moment....
Sources:
Matthew Elliott, City AM (October 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS), "Economic inactivity in the UK labour market," (2025)