Economic inactivity among older men below retirement age is at its highest level since records began, a study of official data has found.
The analysis of employment data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), conducted by Rest Less, found the number of men aged between 50 and 64 who were not employed or looking for work increased to nearly 1.5 million this year.
This was a jump of 179,000 (13 per cent) since the start of the pandemic, and the highest level since 1992 when the ONS started collecting comparable data.
The rate of economic inactivity among men aged 50 to 64 is currently at a nine-year high of 23.1 per cent, reversing a long-term downward trend that had lasted nearly 30 years.
Additionally, data from December 2021 to February 2022 showed that half (51 per cent) of men aged 50 to 64 had been unemployed for at least 12 months, while since March 2020 nearly a quarter of a million (245,000) men over the age of 50 have claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance and/or some out-of-work Universal Credit benefits, an increase of 37 per cent on pre-pandemic levels.
Stuart Lewis, chief executive of Rest Less, said this analysis should “send much needed alarm bells ringing”.
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