UK is worst performer in G7 for workforce participation since Covid

Number of working-age adults in work or job hunting is still lower than before pandemic, OECD figures show

Britain has emerged as the worst-performing country in the G7 for workforce participation since the Covid pandemic, after an exodus of half a million people at a time of record levels of long-term sickness.

Figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed the UK's labour force participation - the percentage of working-age adults either in work or job hunting - was 78.6% in the final three months of 2022, down from 79.5% in the same period at the end of 2019.