Official Statistics

Wider Determinants of Health: statistical commentary

Published 1 October 2024

Applies to England

Background

The Wider Determinants of Health tool brings together available indicators at England and local authority level. The Wider Determinants of Health profile is designed to:

• draw attention to the broad range of individual, social and environmental factors which influence our health
• provide the public health system with intelligence on the wider determinants of health to help improve population health and reduce health inequalities

New in this update

The latest update includes new data for 7 indicators:

• percentage of people in employment
• rate of economic inactivity
• long term claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance
• mortgage home repossessions
• landlord home repossessions
• households experiencing food insecurity
• access to healthy assets and hazards index

In addition, the methodology has changed for the indicators on mortgage and landlord home repossessions and the existing indicators have been replaced. Further information on this change can be found in the definitions tab for each home repossessions indicator in the Wider Determinants of Health profile on Fingertips and in the Ministry of Justice Mortgage and landlord possession statistics: April to June, supporting document.

This summary provides the main messages for England with a focus on indicators related to income, work and the labour market.

Percentage of people in employment

This indicator measures the percentage of people who are in employment (either as an employee, self employed, in government employment and training programmes or an unpaid family worker) and are of working age (16 to 64 years). There is a strong evidence base showing that work is generally good for physical and mental health and wellbeing. In some cases, work can reverse the adverse health effects of unemployment, such as improving self-esteem. Information on the relationship between health and work can be found in the published government guidance Health matters: health and work.

For the financial year 2023 to 2024 the percentage of people in employment is 75.7%. This is in line with the previous year (75.7%) and pre pandemic levels.

There is variation in employment rate by ethnic group, sex, and age group. For the latest year, the percentage of people in employment ranges from 61.1% for those who identified their ethnic group as Pakistani or Bangladeshi to 79.4% for those who identified their ethnic group as Indian. These estimates do not take into account differences in the age structure of ethnic groups which may affect employment rates. Ethnic groups with larger populations aged under 30 and over 50 may have lower rates of employment, as these are outside of peak employment age of 30 to 49 years. For example, estimates from the 2021 Census show the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups have a lower median age of 27 and 28, compared to the median age of 36 for the Indian ethnic group. Further information on age structure of ethnic groups can be found in ONS article ‘Ethnic group by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021’.

Employment rates are lowest for younger adults (aged 16 to 19 years) and for adults close to the typical retirement age. For the latest year, people aged 16 to 24 years had the lowest employment rate of 52.4%, whereas the highest employment rate was observed for people aged 25 to 49 years at 85.4% (figure 1). This variation is discussed in further detail in Office for National Statistics (ONS) article ‘Diversity in the labour market, England and Wales: Census 2021’.

Figure 1: percentage of people in employment by age group, England, financial year ending 2024

Economic inactivity rate

This indicator measures economic inactivity of 16 to 64 year olds, defined as those not classed as employed or unemployed. This includes the long term sick or people with disabilities, the temporary sick, people looking after family, students, and retired people.

The rate of economic inactivity has been increasing since the financial year 2019 to 2020. In this period, economic inactivity rate was 20.6%, increasing to 21.2% for the financial year 2023 to 2024.

Regional variation exists as the rate of economic inactivity is highest in northern regions and lowest in southern regions (figure 2), ranging from 25.4% in the North East to 17.7% in the South East.

Figure 2: economic inactivity rate by region, England, financial year ending 2024

Analysis conducted and discussed by the ONS shows that long term sickness is an increasingly common reason for economic inactivity and has been rising since 2019.

This rise differs by age group and main health condition. In 2022, older people still made up the majority of those economically inactive because of long term sickness. Although, from 2019 to 2022, the largest percentage increase in the number of individuals inactive due to long term sickness has been among those aged 25 to 34 years. Further information on factors influencing this increase can be found in the ONS article ‘Half a million more people are out of the labour force because of long-term sickness’.

For those economically inactive because of long term sickness in Quarter 1 of 2023, nearly two-fifths (38%) reported having 5 or more health conditions, suggesting health conditions are likely to be interlinked. The most common health condition reported for those who are economically inactive because of long term sickness was depression, bad nerves or anxiety. More detail on this analysis can be found in the ONS article ‘Rising ill-health and economic inactivity because of long-term sickness, UK: 2019 to 2023’.

Long term claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance

The rate of long term claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance can be used as a proxy measure of those in long term unemployment. There is a large degree of overlap between the claimant count and unemployment, but the unemployment figures are generally higher. Not all people who are unemployed are eligible for Jobseeker’s Allowance. Therefore, this indicator may underestimate the number of long term unemployed people.

The rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants has decreased to 0.9 per 1,000 in 2023, from 1.4 per 1,000 in 2022, continuing an ongoing downward trend. Rates of claimants are higher in more deprived areas, with 1.8 per 1,000 in the most deprived decile of districts and unitary authorities, compared with 0.4 in the least deprived decile (figure 3).

Figure 3: rate of long term claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance by deprivation decile, England, 2023

View the Wider determinants profile.

For queries relating to this publication contact PHA-OHID@dhsc.gov.uk.

The next planned update is February 2025.