Last updated: 27 Aug 2024 12:00 Posted in:
A mental health crisis among young British workers threatens the government’s growth plans, according to a new PwC survey.
The Big 4 firm’s research found that more than one million 18- to 24-year-olds are struggling with their mental health, which accounts for 22% of the Gen Z age group. This compares with an average of 8% across the rest of the population.
PwC’s chief economist, Barret Kupelian, said the Chancellor Rachel Reeves has no chance of hitting her growth targets unless she could solve the mental health crisis among Gen Z. He said: “If the new Government is to realise its economic growth ambitions it will need to focus on young people to avoid the long-term impacts young workers felt after the 2008 financial crisis.
“There are huge social as well as national and economic benefits to taking action to decrease youth unemployment.”
PwC research found that almost 50% of inactive youngsters said they would be more likely to return to work if employers offered more mental health support.
One in five said that their condition was preventing them from pursuing their favoured career.
Kupelian added: “The Government stated its long-term ambition to increase the employment rate to 80%... It will be virtually impossible to push employment rates higher from the current 74%, if we don't tackle new emerging issues such as mental health which seems to be much more prevalent amongst the workers of the future.”
“Inactivity among the majority of advanced economies rose sharply during the pandemic, however, while other countries have seen these levels decline in recent years, they remain stubbornly high in the UK post-pandemic. The number of economically inactive people among the UK's working population now stands at 9.4 million, a 13-year high,” PwC said.
Younger and older workers have been most affected, with 16-24-year-olds and 50-64-year-olds accounting for nearly all of the increase since the start of the pandemic. Long-term sickness was a key driver, accounting for over 29% of all inactivity.
Debra Clark, head of wellbeing, Towergate Health and Protection, told the COVER website that while employee benefits can be a great way of providing robust mental health support to all employees, including Gen Z, employers need to consider all aspects of support.
This ranges from raised awareness and access to relevant, appropriate, qualified content and information, to help if someone is at crisis point and needing support for the short or long-term.
Clark said: “Covering education, awareness and intervention should better support employees in remaining at work or returning to work and enable all employees to benefit from the support there.
“However, there is no point offering all these good solutions if no one knows about them so communication and engagement with the benefits available is absolutely key too for employers. Many providers are also looking at how they can make the services more accessible, through portals, apps, etc.”
"The number of economically inactive people among the UK's working population now stands at 9.4 million, a 13-year high."
PwC Survey, 2024