Britain already has the worst post-pandemic workforce recovery in Europe. New figures out today show the problem is getting even worse. The number of those ‘economically inactive’ (not in work or looking for it) rose by a remarkable 150,000 in the last three months to 9.4 million – equivalent to the adult population of Portsmouth and some 850,000 since the first lockdown. Taken as a share of the working-age population, it’s now at an eight-year high – and significantly worse than it was during Covid or its aftermath.

What’s driving the worklessness? The biggest single factor is long-term sickness, also at an all-time high.

Is this just economic long-Covid, the after-effects of the virus that struck four years ago? If it were that simple, this trend would be seen worldwide: in fact, the UK is one of the few countries in the developed world to have its workforce below 2020 levels.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) offers a breakdown behind the cumulative change in economic inactivity, with the rise in long-term sick as the single biggest factor:

One upside for the government is that wages are now climbing higher than inflation, although not by much (1.3 per cent). The below, while welcome, may not be enough to create a feelgood factor by the general election:

In his resignation letter last week, energy minister Graham Stuart told Rishi Sunak that ‘under your leadership, the UK is at near-full employment’. That Tories can speak this way to each other after 14 years nods to the state of denial with which the party views the worklessness crisis which shows no signs of being addressed before the next general election.