Is ill-health holding back the UK economy?

The 5th of February is apparently the day that's become known as "national sickie day" but the Guardia have used it to flag up the increased rate of long-term sickness that appears to be holding back to UK economy. There are currently 2.8 million people in this position, up from 2.1 million pre-pandemic and it represents a significant decrease in the labour force.

This, of course, has a range of macroeconomic implications - both for the main macroeconomic objectives and the public finances. However, because the ONS are currently trialling the collection of labour market data because of worries about the reliability of the Labour Force Survey, we might have to wait a little bit more time for a definitive position.