Gen Z is battling worsening mental health conditions, and data now suggests they are also increasingly refusing to work. FG Trade—Getty Images
Gen Z is fighting a difficult mental health battle that impacts not only their wellbeing but also their studies, and that battle now appears to have reached a tipping point for the UK workforce.
The latest data from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that in the final quarter of 2023, 9.25 million working-age adults were not looking for work, also known as economically inactive.
The increase in inactivity by young people is alarming, with 3 million working-age adults under 25 currently registering as not looking for work.
Many of these people are students, but statisticians suggest that the rise in joblessness among young people is particularly worrying.
young people quit their jobs
“The key trend we're seeing there is young people. If we look at last year, we found that the increase in inactivity was concentrated in younger age groups, particularly the 16- to 24-year-old age group. ' said ONS head of economics and statistics Liz McCune. BBC Radio 4.
At the end of last year, 4.5% of 16- to 24-year-olds were not actively looking for work. By comparison, only 0.1% of young people registered as inactive in the first quarter of 2020.
This comes despite ONS data showing there were 908,000 vacancies in the final quarter of 2023. Although this number has declined in recent years, it remains above pre-COVID-19 levels.
This is the latest worrying data point in the growing trend of young people leaving the workforce, which continues to baffle policymakers.
There are growing concerns that the increase in joblessness is not an economic phenomenon, but is caused mainly by the deterioration of young people's mental health.
Louise Murphy, senior economist at the UK think tank Resolution Foundation (RF), said: “Alarmingly, this sudden rise in inactivity levels coincides with a mental health crisis among young people.” .
“18- to 24-year-olds are now more likely to experience common mental disorders than any other age group, and it is the least qualified young people who face the worst economic impact. Significantly more non-graduates have mental health problems and are more likely to be unemployed than their graduate colleagues. ”
murphy said luck It argued that changes were needed in the workforce and education system to ensure young people had access to appropriate mental health support before starting their careers.
Bringing the mental health crisis into the workplace
Gen Z and younger Millennials are showing some signs of struggling to fit into the workforce.
While this has historically been a generational problem, there are signs that it is hitting younger workers particularly hard these days.
For young people who manage to enter the labor market, rising data shows that the struggle with mental health doesn't end once you get a job offer.
According to RF research, Gen Z workers take more sick leave than Gen Xers, who are 20 years older, marking a symbolic reversal in historic absenteeism trends.
The think tank says the rise in illness is the cause of a mental health crisis among young people, with more than a third of 18-24 year olds suffering from “common mental disorders” (CMDs) such as stress, anxiety and depression. I pointed out that.
“Youth unemployment due to poor health is real and on the rise. Young people in their early 20s who are just beginning their adult lives are more likely to be unemployed due to poor health than those in their early 40s. “This is alarming,” the RF researchers said.
The collective increase in inactivity is also having an impact on the overall level of the UK economy.
The ONS observed that the typical UK worker's weekly working hours fell by 0.3 hours between 2019 and 2022. This decline was driven by men, who worked almost an hour less per week than they did in 2019.
The statistics agency said this has started to impact economic growth, especially since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
