Who are the millions of Britons not working, and why?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52660591

by Tartan_Samurai

31 comments

  1. So their great idea to reduce worklessness is a rebranding, more DEI initiatives, reminding people that being obese is bad for your health and tweaking benefits mechanics.

    Whilst on the other hand discouraging job creation (and encouraging downsizing) by taxing employers more per person they hire.

    I’m sure this will go well.

  2. Because even for those wanting to work, job posting are overwhelmed by applications.

    Britain is becoming more like the hunger games

  3. Excluding Retired and Carers the numbers show:

    – 8,000,000 people are out of work
    – 800,000 jobs available

    Doesn’t add up does it

  4. I’m one, redundant end of august. I have one application in progress right now, closing date was end of September, I have had 3 interviews for this job and there will be one more with the head of department if they keep me in the process which has now been ongoing for almost 2 months.

  5. I can answer the headline; I’m one of them and I’m not working because I don’t hear back or get rejected from 99% of jobs I apply to. After a while you just stop applying because it’s futile. I’m not even being picky, I apply to warehouses, cleaning positions, health care positions and I don’t hear back probably because I have a maths degree (which is mostly useless because all graduate jobs want someone with a 2:1… it’s funny someone with a 2:1 in history can apply to a data analyst position but I can’t).

  6. Some of these are burnouts from the public sector. Or those who’ve lost jobs as it’s shrunk and shrunk and shrunk. I left teaching last December and do not want to go back to it. Took a break to do some freelance and creative stuff, then started job seeking in September. It’s tough – a lot of ex-teachers take months to find work in new sectors. Lots of transferable skills but not much by way of experience in other fields.

  7. There are 1.2 million illegal immigrants in the uk. They are either in hotels/houses on benefits or working illegally. I’d say these should be a bit more of a priority.

  8. I mean as a qualified and experienced physio in London to not be able to find a job in 1 year.. it’s a bit worrying, no? Then I’ve heard worse for those who don’t limit themselves to one profession, fun times

  9. Cause what’s the point?

    There’s literally no incentive to work anymore.

    Also the capitalist ideology puts no value on community or family, only profit and accumulation of wealth so its no surprise people are acting in self interest and don’t care about being a contributing member of society. Being a burden doesn’t matter either cause “I got mine”

    The answer is always capitalism.

  10. I can get reasonably far into the application process for a job but as soon as I mention I have bipolar disorder- which I will not conceal- interest dries right up. Funny that.

  11. Rebranding?! No – fuck off!

    *Retraining* is what’s needed – ensuring the staff are not cruel & punitive, which also means decoupling their job security from their “performance” – getting people back into work as quickly as possible regardless of whether it’s a good fit doesn’t work.

    Expanding metal health services? Great if true.

  12. Since 2020 (pre-pandemic) there are approx 3 million extra in employment… vacancies are broadly similar.

    Number economically inactive has increased ~700,000 (mostly ‘long term sick’)

    Without going trying to inflame the whole immigration thing, but the population has grown over 2million in the same period.
    Give or take the numbers work out.
    .

  13. I’m a full-time carer of a child with SEN because there are no schools that can cater for their needs.

    When do I work..?

  14. In the words of one philosopher “Is it worth the aggravation, to find yourself a job when there’s nothing worth working for?”

  15. So many people looking for work, very few jobs available and yet so many working people who are burnt out because there’s too much to do age the company needs to hire more.
    The country desperately needs more public sector work as we watch our societal services crumble

  16. Because the economy is bad and austerity hit us hard.

  17. Ooooo I’m in that stat! My feeling is what’s the point?

    I don’t have a girlfriend at the minute, I work 5 months a year in the UK then live in Asia for 7.

    Why would I get a place on my own with a permanent position to just see my wage boomerang back out of my account on payday in rent or ridiculous mortgage interest rates (I’m lucky in the sense my parents really don’t mind my being back there for a while).

    I meet so many Europeans in my position in places like Malaysia and Vietnam. I’m paying £110 a week for a 27th floor apartment with a balcony looking over KLCC with a big rooftop pool, bills included.

    Oh and it’s 28 degrees all day every day. I absolutely love the UK but wow it’s depressing lately unless you have money.

  18. I know one. She is 29 and neurodivergent. And despite trying for months she cannot get a job. She can’t get past an interview to save her life

    Of course it might also have to do with the fact that she must work on a very poor bus route, so is very constrained on hours and times of work. So many jobs say you need a license because they know that public transport is not reliable.

    Meanwhile, the more she is rejected the worse her mental health gets.

  19. I get it. I’ve never *not* worked in one way or another but if I was younger I’d have zero incentive these days, the hours since I started out over 15 years ago have absolutely exploded.

    Doing as 12-14 hour day for example in my industry has turned into the normal, rather than the once in a blue moon.

  20. My two cents (or pence): go to a temp agency. I did in my 20’s ten years ago and ended up with three different full time jobs through them. Signed up, was sent out, worked well enough and got offered jobs when they came up. Stayed a couple of years, got bored, went back to temping. Not saying this will happen every time of course but they certainly helped me. Bulked out my CV with experience at the very least which helped when applying for my current job that I’ve been in for the last 4 years.

  21. I’m thankful I have a job at the moment because I’ve seen how bad the job market is at the moment, it’s totally understandable why there’s so many people out of work and not applying for jobs at the moment when you see people applying for between 100-300 jobs and only getting 1 interview or not hearing back from any of them, I’ve been in that situation before and know how demoralising it is, eventually you give up because what’s the point in getting constant rejection?

  22. I honestly don’t know why they’ve included students, unpaid carers and early retirement in their figures. Just to make it exaggerated.

  23. There’s no career paths anymore. So many dead end nonsense jobs that wanna scam you for piss poor pay and maximum hours before they throw you out. Rinse repeat. Warehouses, tat factories and retail

    Many jobs do not offer pay rises for the same work and oftentimes love to put crap into contracts like “your employer holds the right for you to do other duties in your role” which basically means you’ll be doing everything else that isn’t your job because they couldn’t be bothered to hire staff correctly.

    People want to work, they just don’t want to be taken advantage of for peanuts. It was never like this in the past. My own mother paid two entire mortgages when she moved twice on her sewing factory salary.

  24. I don’t have hiring responsibilities. But I’ve noticed my workplaces skewing older and older as time goes on. Current job I am the youngest in the office at 34. I’m working with guys in their 60s who would previously have been long retired.

    Entry level jobs either do not exist or are outsourced. 

    All purely anecdotal. But I wonder how young people make a start in their careers given the current state of the job market.

  25. My wife is 56 and has arthritis. She wants desperately to do a desk job. She has a degree, but has been trying for 10 years…no one will even interview her. Too old, too ill, not interested.

  26. Me, Managed Bars and nightclubs before covid. Lost my job, Dad and Auntie to Covid. Went back to Bar work after Covid to find that everyone became horrible. So now i Live off my small property income while making money off the Stock market and my hobbies. Im incredibly lucky but also in a situation where going back to work full time only benefits the Tax man.

  27. The last few places I’ve worked in the UK have been understaffed to the point of just getting by. Leaving all the remaining staff stressed and picking up slack.

    Could easily be fixed by hiring 1 or 2 more people but they want to squeeze every bit of profit out of the place at the expense of staff. There should be more jobs available but it feels like companies are just trying to function on as little staff as possible

  28. Maybe because wages are stagnant? I haven’t had a raise since the pandemic and shot down every time I asked.

  29. Partner has been out of work for almost 5 months now. 15 years working in a variety of customer service jobs, can barely land an interview from anything; warehouses, reception, retail, care etc.

    There’s fuck all out there. When there is, she’s up against an overwhelming number of applicants.

    Self service, AI, automated systems etc all slowly stripping away the “minimum wage” jobs.

  31. There isn’t enough jobs on livable wages to go around, let alone careers. 

    2 main reasons for this. Overseas hires, and mass immigration. It’s cheaper to invest out than train and retain brits. 

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