As of the second quarter of 2025, approximately 32.9 percent of people who were economically inactive in the United Kingdom were on long-term or temporary sick leave, with a further 25.8 percent of economically inactive people being students.

Labour market activity by nationality, country of birth and age, UK, published quarterly, non-seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.

As of the second quarter of 2025, the economic inactivity rate for the working age population of the United Kingdom was ** percent, compared with **** percent in the previous quarter.

In 2022, the highest and lowest rates of economic inactivity were in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi (33%) and white 'other’ (15%) ethnic groups.

Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity levels and rates by age group, UK, rolling three-monthly figures, seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.

As of the first quarter of 2025, approximately 40.9 percent of 16 to 24-year-olds were economically inactive in the United Kingdom, compared with 12.4 percent of 25 to 34-year-old's, 11.6 percent of 35 to 49-year-old's, and 26.5 percent of 50 to 64-year-old's.

Economic inactivity (aged 16 to 64 years) by reason (not seasonally adjusted). These estimates are sourced from the Labour Force Survey, a survey of households. These are official statistics in development.

Northern Ireland had the highest economic inactivity rate among the four countries of the United Kingdom, at approximately 27.2 percent, with Wales having the second-highest economic inactivity rate of 24.7 percent.

Experimental labour market estimates using administrative data to produce adjusted UK employment, unemployment and economic inactivity measures, seasonally adjusted. Includes a breakdown by countries and regions of the UK.

This is the proportion of the population aged 16 to 64 who are economically inactive. Economically inactive are people who are neither in employment nor unemployed. This group includes: all those who were looking after a family/home, sick, retired or students; those 'Wanting A Job' - people not in employment who want a job but are not classed as unemployed because they have either not sought work in the last four weeks or are not available to start work; and those 'Not Wanting A Job' - people who are neither in employment nor unemployed and who do not want a job. While the source is a rolling annual survey updated quarterly, a given 12-month period should be compared to the matching 12-month period in previous years to obtain valid comparisons. The data for district and unitary authorities is generally taken not directly from the Annual Population Survey but from associated modelled estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics, which provide greater accuracy.Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

Among people with no qualifications, black people had the highest rate of economic inactivity (58%) out of all ethnic groups. Asian people had the lowest (50%).

In the first quarter of 2025, over ***** million young people aged between 16 and 24 were economically inactive in the United Kingdom. Economically inactive people are outside the labor force but are not looking for work, and include students, or people who are too sick to work.

This is the proportion of the population aged 16 to 64 who are economically inactive. Economically inactive are people who are neither in employment nor unemployed. This group includes: all those who were looking after a family/home, sick, retired or students; those 'Wanting A Job' - people not in employment who want a job but are not classed as unemployed because they have either not sought work in the last four weeks or are not available to start work; and those 'Not Wanting A Job' - people who are neither in employment nor unemployed and who do not want a job. While the source is a rolling annual survey updated quarterly, a given 12-month period should be compared to the matching 12-month period in previous years to obtain valid comparisons. The data for district and unitary authorities is generally taken not directly from the Annual Population Survey but from associated modelled estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics, which provide greater accuracy.Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity levels and rates by age group, UK, rolling three-monthly figures, not seasonally adjusted. Labour Force Survey. These are official statistics in development.

United Kingdom Economically Inactive Rate: sa: Aged 18 to 24 data was reported at 31.095 % in Aug 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 31.137 % for Jul 2018. United Kingdom Economically Inactive Rate: sa: Aged 18 to 24 data is updated monthly, averaging 25.737 % from Apr 1992 (Median) to Aug 2018, with 317 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 31.249 % in Aug 2017 and a record low of 21.842 % in Apr 1992. United Kingdom Economically Inactive Rate: sa: Aged 18 to 24 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office for National Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.G009: Labour Force: Economically Inactive.

In 2022, among the working age population of the United Kingdom, there were approximately **** million people economically inactive from the Baby Boomer Generation, followed by **** million Gen X economically inactive, *** million Millennials, and **** million Gen Z.

In the second quarter of 2025, an estimated 2.78 million people were economically inactive due to being on long-term sickness leave in the UK, slightly down from a peak of over 2.84 million people in the fourth quarter of 2023. This figure has been rising considerably since 2019, when there were just over two million people economically inactive for this reason. Since the third quarter of 2021, long-term and temporary sickness has been the main reason that people were economically inactive, accounting for 32.1 percent of economic inactivity in the fourth quarter of 2024. What is driving the increase in long-term sickness? It is unclear if there are any specific reasons for the continued growth of long-term sickness in the UK. As of 2022, some of the most common health conditions cited as the reason for long-term sickness were to do with mental health issues, with 313,00 suffering from mental illness, and a further 282,000 for depression-related illness. It is also likely that the COVID-19 pandemic caused an impact, with around 1.8 million people in April 2022 reporting an experience of Long Covid. In general, while the majority of people on long-term sick leave are over the age of 50, there has been a noticeable increase in those aged under 35 being off on long-term sickness. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of those aged between 16 and 34 on long-term sickness increased by 140,000, compared with just 32,000 for those aged between 35 and 49. UK labor market set to continue cooling in 2025? In 2022, the UK labor market was slightly more weighted in favor of workers and people looking for work than usual. Unemployment fell to historical levels, while job vacancies reached a peak of more than 1.3 million in May. Wage growth also remained strong during this period, although as this occurred at a time of high inflation, wages fell in real terms for a long period between November 2021 and June 2023. Although the job market continued to show signs of resilience, for some time, there are signs this is now changing. In December 2024, the UK unemployment rate was 4.4 percent, a joint post-pandemic high, while in the same month job vacancies fell to their lowest level since May 2021.

United Kingdom Economically Inactive: sa: Do Not Want Job data was reported at 6,836.674 Person th in Aug 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 6,835.185 Person th for Jul 2018. United Kingdom Economically Inactive: sa: Do Not Want Job data is updated monthly, averaging 6,706.121 Person th from Apr 1993 (Median) to Aug 2018, with 305 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7,201.527 Person th in Aug 2011 and a record low of 6,163.979 Person th in May 1997. United Kingdom Economically Inactive: sa: Do Not Want Job data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Office for National Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.G010: Labour Force: Economically Inactive: By Reason.

This dataset provides counts of persons in the United Kingdom for 2018 and 2021 aged 16-64 years in the following categories: i) economically inactive (currently not working and either not searching or not available for work); ii) have a long-term health condition; iii) have a long-term health condition that limits the kind or amount of work they can do; iv) were born in the EU (excluding Ireland); and v) were born outside the EU. These categories are pertinent in understanding the impact of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic on economic inactivity and labour shortages, which rose sharply over the period covered by the dataset. The dataset is novel because it provides a geographical disaggregation for 179 NUTS3 regions across the UK. The dataset allows the geographically uneven impacts of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic on local labour markets to be investigated.The Coronavirus pandemic has led to increases in retirement and long-term sickness, and Brexit and the pandemic together have led to a reduction in the number of EU workers in the UK. Together, these changes amount to a large reduction in the size of the workforce, which is the primary reason for difficulties faced by employers in most sectors recruiting staff since the ending of 'lockdown', as well as issue of pay and conditions and their geographical and social inequalities. Little is known about the uneven geography across the UK in these sources of reductions in the workforce in driving the sharpest rises in job vacancies in rural areas and some London boroughs, precisely the areas most dependent on foreign labour. This information is important in designing policies to effectively address "Levelling Up" the economic fortunes of different parts of the UK, with some places short of workers, at least in the short term; and others short of jobs, in particular well-paid jobs. The UK Government has promised a transformation to a high-wage economy following Brexit, predicated on the view that reduced labour supply will stimulate investment and innovation to raise productivity, and that the UK has become locked-in to a low-cost economic model dependent on cheap international labour. The research will produce new datasets as the latest evidence becomes available, including the 2021 Census of Population, analysis and insights to assess this claim and its geography, by examining links between local changes to local labour demand, supply, wages, productivity and unemployment. More generally, the research will better understand the impact of Brexit and the pandemic on local labour markets and local economies in different parts of the UK, to inform planning for future economic resilience to 'shocks', and to assess the effectiveness of the UK new immigration policy in meeting labour demand and skills shortages in all parts of the UK. Data are based on counts of persons aged 16-64 years computed for 179 NUTS3 regions across the United Kingdom from the Office for National Statistics' Annual Population Survey (APS) Three-Year Pooled Datasets for January 2017 - December 2019 and for January 2020 - December 2022. The APS is a random sample of residential addresses in the UK. Information is collected about all individuals who live together in a household at an address.

Economic inactivity rates broken down by ethnic group. The economically inactive population is comprised of those who are unable or do not wish to enter employment. The data are taken from the Annual Population Survey, produced by the Office for National Statistics.