Recommendation 14

The Treasury has allocated significant and welcome resources to initiatives to help people who are seeking work gain employment. However, a more urgent problem now seems to be becoming clear in the sharp fall in the number of people looking for work, compared to pre-pandemic trends. This is harming economic activity and could exacerbate inflation. The Treasury needs to consider allocating or reallocating resources to address the fall in the number of people looking for work since the start of the pandemic. In part, that may mean additional resourcing for ‘long covid’ treatment, to enable those suffering from long-term sickness to re-enter the workforce in greater numbers.