UK set to be only nation with lower employment than before Covid

Six hundred thousand more Britons ‘economically inactive’ than in 2019, study finds

The UK has one of the worst recoveries from Covid in the world when it comes to jobs, startling new research has found.

Britain is on track to be the only country in the developed world with lower employment levels in 2023 than before the pandemic, according to top economists.

The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) said the UK is almost unique in seeing employment levels lower than the pre-Covid period – with 600,000 more people “economically inactive” than in 2019.