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Summary:

The new Labour government needs an ambitious strategy to improve the health of working-age people in the UK.

 

The cost of sickness absence and worklessness associated with ill health ‘is an unsustainable burden in a competitive global economy’, said Dame Carol Black in her 2008 review of the health of Britain’s working-age population¹. ‘Left unchecked, it will diminish the quality of life for individuals and families in Britain, undermining efforts to reach full employment and denying business the talent and contributions of a potential workforce it can ill afford to lose.’ But it did go unchecked.

There are 2.83 million people who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness – 633,000 more than in 2008². An estimated 3.8 million workers have work-limiting ill health, many with multiple conditions³. In 2022, 186 million working days were lost through sickness absence – 30 million more than in 2008⁴. The gap between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people remains …

 

Dr John Ballard is editor of Occupational Health [at Work]

Author: Ballard J

Tags carol black wellbeing

Occupational Health at Work August/September 2024 (vol. 21/2) pp03

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