Economic inactivity among over 50s has risen in every part of the country, as Labour calls on Government to adopt its plans for jobs support

Labour will today [Tuesday] hold an Opposition Day Debate to urge the Government to adopt its plans for reforming jobs support, as new analysis shows economic inactivity among over 50s has risen in every part of the country since the pandemic. 

The new analysis shows that since the pandemic:

• Every part of the UK has seen a rise in the number of over 50s who are economically inactive, with an overall increase of 350,000 (11%) 
• The South West has seen the largest overall increase of 16%, followed by the East Midlands, West Midlands and North West (all 15%)
• Economic inactivity among men over 50 has risen by nearly a quarter (23%) in the North West and West Midlands 
• Economic inactivity among women over 50 has risen by almost a fifth (17%) in the South West and 15% in the North East
• 55,000 more men over 50 are economically inactive across the North of England
• 50,000 more women over 50 are economically inactive across the South of England.

Leading the debate for Labour, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Ashworth, will call on the Government to adopt plans for reforming jobs support that he set out earlier this year.  

Labour's reform plans will localise employment support, open up Jobcentres, target help to the over 50s, provide specialist support for those with ill health and make sure that work pays.

Ashworth will criticise the "delayed and indecisive Tory response" to economic inactivity, saying ministers have been "slow to realise that inactivity is holding back economic growth – and even slower to act".

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting ahead of Labour's Opposition Day Debate on getting Britain back to work, said:

"Labour has led the debate on getting Britain back to work with a clear welfare reform plan to deliver specialist help to those who have been written off under the Tories.

"We're wasting the talents of so many people across the country who are desperate for quality work. It's totally unacceptable that around a million young people have left with little or support or those out of work for reasons of sickness have been forgotten. Meanwhile a generation of over 50s in every part of the country have been given no help.

"Today, MPs must back our welfare reform plans to get Britain back to work, raise living standards and target the highest growth in the G7."

Ends

Notes: 

Labour analysis shows that the number of people aged 50-64 who are economically inactive increased in every part of the UK between March 2020 and September 2022.

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• Motion for debate: Getting Britain Back to Work:
  
  That this House is concerned that the number of people out of work and ‘economically inactive’ is higher than before the pandemic, that thousands of older people have left the labour market and that there have been significant increases in the number of people out of work due to ill health or mental ill health; notes that recent employment support schemes have under-performed and under spent; condemns the Government for its failure to get more people into work and regrets that this is contributing to low economic growth and falling living standards; and therefore calls upon the Government to get Britain back to work through reforming disability benefit assessments, devolving employment support to local areas and providing specialist and targeted help for those with long-term ill health and the over 50s to grow the economy and boost both public finances and household incomes.

• Jonathan Ashworth’s January 2023 speech outlining Labour’s approach to reforming employment support and social security can be found at https://labour.org.uk/press/jonathan-ashworth-speech-at-the-centre-for-social-justice/.