The South West saw the greatest increase in economic inactivity among the over-50s at 16 percent, followed by the East Midlands, West Midlands and North West, which each saw a rise of 15 percent.

Katie Elliott www.express.co.uk 

MPs are being urged to back Labour’s plans to reform job support ahead of the Opposition Day Debate as recent research shows a stark increase in over-50s across the country who are either struggling to find or go back to work since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some areas are populated with more economically inactive Britons than others.

Commenting on the proposed reforms, Jonathan Ashworth, shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “We’re wasting the talents of so many people across the country who are desperate for quality work”, before adding that a “generation of over-50s in every part of the country have been given no help”.

He continued: “MPs must back our welfare reform plans to get Britain back to work, raise living standards and target the highest growth in the G7.”

Analysis from the Labour Party, released today, shows that every part of the UK saw a rise in the number of over-50s who are economically inactive between March 2020 and September 2022 – with an overall increase of almost 350,000 (11 percent).

The South West saw the greatest increase in economic inactivity among the over-50s at 16 percent, followed by the East Midlands, West Midlands and North West, which each saw a rise of 15 percent.

The research shows the number of economically inactive men between the ages of 50 and 64 had increased by almost a quarter (23 percent) in the North West and the West Midlands and by more than a fifth (21 percent) in the East Midlands.

The South West saw the greatest increase in the number of economically inactive women between the ages of 50 and 64 at 17 percent, followed by the North East on 15 percent.

A total of 55,000 more men over 50 are economically inactive across the North, while 50,000 more women over 50 are economically inactive across the South.

According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recent economic labour market report published in September, being sick, injured or disabled continues to be the main reason why people aged between 50 and 64 years are economically inactive in the labour market (39.1 percent, or 1.4 million).

Nearly 760,000 people aged between 50 and 64 years are either actively seeking work, or are inactive but are willing or would like to work.