The British economy will suffer a blow of 8 billion British pounds this year from the reduction in the number of labor force caused by the increase in ill health caused by the pandemic, a study by the think tank showed.
A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research says that the combination of the long-term discontinuation of Covid, the NHS and the increase in mental illness means that 400,000 workers have disappeared since the beginning of the global health crisis.
The report, published to mark the launch of the IPPR’s two-year Health and Prosperity Committee, says the UK is paying a heavy price for deep health inequalities and ineffective policies that mean people are living shorter lives and facing more -large barriers to staying and starting work.
IPPR says the link between health and the economy goes beyond people who do not work due to illness and ill health, and is crucial to low productivity, low growth and huge regional inequalities in the UK.
Two years after the start of the pandemic, the UK workforce is more than 1 million smaller than it would have been before the crisis. IPPR said health factors were responsible for almost half of the reduction.
People living in the economically weakest parts of the country, such as Blackpool, Knowsley and Barking and Dagenham, fell into average ill health in the late 1950s, five years earlier than the national average and 12 years earlier. of the people living in the healthiest place, Wokingham.
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Lady Sally Davis, the former Chief Medical Officer of England and co-chair of the IPPR’s Committee on Health and Prosperity, said there had never been a more important moment to put good health at the heart of society and the economy. “A fairer country is healthier and a healthier country is more prosperous,” she said. “While restrictions have eased, the effects of the pandemic remain deep on the health of the nation and our economy.
Another member of the committee, Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “One of the main beliefs of the British public is that everyone should have access to good health, regardless of their means and location. But at the moment we see serious inequalities in health and opportunities. Good health must be embedded in all places where people live throughout the country, and communities must be supported to take greater control of their health and well-being. “
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