Britain’s youth are grappling with worse mental health now than 10 years ago, pushing more of them out of employment than their middle-aged peers and impeding their career growth.
The number of people reporting “work-limiting health conditions” has risen by 41% since 2015 to reach 8.7 million, according to an independent report published Thursday led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, a businessman and former chair of a government body. The jump was driven by those aged 16 to 34–rather than those between 40 to 64—who find themselves in a vortex of health crises hurting Britain’s workforce.
An accelerating youth mental crisis and the so-called “sick-note culture” in the country have increased youth unemployment among those between 16 and 24 years. The trend has worsened recently, although lower than the years following the Global Financial Crisis.
Economic inactivity, which occurs when people are unemployed and not looking for work, currently costs an estimated £150 billion ($194 billion) in lost economic value.
The findings of his report highlight “the urgency that we tackle this challenge by improving prevention and retention of those in work and by creating better pathways back into work for those who are economically inactive,” the former John Lewis chair said in a statement.
The review comes just days after the U.K. government announced changes to welfare benefits, including tightening checks around when people can receive mental health benefits.
Seeking help for mental health
The British economy is already in a dire state. Productivity growth has been flatlining to Victorian-era lows, and sickness is the top reason people stay out of the labor force.
Mayfield’s review, which was written as a broader study into the employment reforms Britain needs, found that health issues—particularly mental health—are a major deterrent to young people participating in the workforce.
A previous Resolution Foundation report found that mental health issues manifest differently based on sex, ethnicity, and sexual identity and are tied to whether or not individuals are employed. The report found that the COVID-19 pandemic and social media use worsened the crisis.
“By 2022, those in their 20s were more likely to classify as disabled with mental health problems than those in their 40s to 60s,” the report said.
Among the medical conditions for which people can access benefits, mental health ranks the highest compared to those with disabilities or long-term medical illnesses. Still, there’s a degree of overdiagnosis involved, Mayfield warned.
“I certainly think that there probably is some over-medicalization of early-stage mental health issues,” he told The Telegraph. “Part of the reason for that is there’s nowhere to go other than to a medical doctor when somebody starts to experience issues.”
NHS, the country’s publicly funded healthcare system, is overburdened by demand for various types of health services. That’s left people seeking help for mental illnesses without the support they require. The wait time for some specialized services can be as much as 18 weeks, according to the NHS website.
For instance, NHS England lacks beds at mental health hospitals, forcing patients to travel long distances to seek help, the British Medical Association noted.
The new Labour government plans to boost NHS funding by £3.5 billion to address economic inequality and its root causes as part of a proposed £26 billion investment in the healthcare system. The spending increase will also include recruiting 8,500 mental health workers to improve access to health services.
