Economics viewpoint Business must do more to help young workers

Almost a million young people are not in education, employment or training. Employers are freezing their hiring plans. Unemployment is at a four-year high and the outlook is getting worse.

- Richard Partington

Typically it takes a full-blown recession to spark the type of growth in unemployment that Britain is witnessing today. About 100,000 jobs have been lost from company payrolls in the past year, and the official jobless rate has hit 4.8%, up from 4.1% a year earlier.

But while this alone ought to be worrying enough, underneath these headline statistics are two troubling trends: a dramatic increase in youth unemployment and rising levels of ill health.

This week the government will respond. Sir Charlie Mayfield, a former chair of John Lewis, is expected to publish his Keep Britain Working review, outlining his recommendations for how to tackle rising levels of worklessness.

Commissioned by ministers last year, Mayfield believes businesses must do significantly more to help people with work-limiting health conditions and those with disabilities. Support for mental health in particular is key.