Economically inactive people……

[Watermelonnice]

AIBU to think that the government needs to clarify who they mean when they say that they want to reduce the number of people who are economically inactive?

And to think they need to differentiate between the reasons for economic inactivity, including providing numbers who fall into each category.

It’s lazy to make this a headline without taking into account the different reasons and specifying who they mean.

Presumably they mean people who are unemployed, but economically inactive could include students, carers, disabled people, stay at home parents and those who have retired early.

Some will be reliant on the state for support but many will be completely self reliant and not claiming a thing from the government.

Why aren’t the government clearer on who they mean? Do they think they’ll persuade people who have retired early and others who have enough income without claiming any benefits to restart work?

Early retire can’t claim their state pension . They will often be living of savings to some extent or other - to supplement their private pension until they get the state pension. So many won’t be paying much income tax. Although they paid tax on it when yhey earned it in the first place

the government could look to understand this group - a group who value their time and health over making more money. Quitting the rat race , disillusioned with corporate life and the whole system.in my experience anyway

It's also misleading as I'm 99% sure when they talked about economically inactive it never, ever used to include people unemployed and looking for work.

They were classed as, well, unemployed...

All about making the numbers look bigger!

I’m in that group now. I worked for years, but suffered a MH crisis a year and a half ago and I’ve been out of work since that point. I don’t know when I’ll be well enough to return to work, but I hope it’ll be within a year. 🤞🏽

I claim contribution ESA, which makes me feel guilty, but I’d not be able to pay my mortgage and bills without it.

The term “economically inactive” makes me feel like a second class citizen, but maybe I’m being over sensitive…

They need to define what they mean. Early retirees may well pay tax, they may well pay voluntary NI, they will certainly pay council tax, vat, road tax etc. They will buy goods and services.

There are vanishingly few people living under rocks off grid in the UK; now they could legitimately be called economically inactive.

If they mean , people whose income is passive , or provided by benefits, then that’s what they need to say.

I paid tax on my work pension when I retired at 60. I have not cost the tax payer a penny more than I did when working but have done volunteer jobs that would otherwise have had to be paid.

I've been economically inactive since the arrival of dc1 10 years ago gave me postpartum psychosis and a host of other "fun" diagnoses.

Don't claim benefits but I do have two tax payer funded degrees. I would like to return to work and I have a bunch of up-to-date references due to volunteer work and other things but I can't imagine anyone wanting to employ me. My mental health issues undermined my confidence and I still have a perfectionism streak which leads to self destructive tendencies.

Many of us chose not to work full time and are happy to stop work as soon as we can afford to do so - the government have little chance of persuading people that are managing well back to work. They’d have to crash the economy, tax pension incomes etc……

This will be me in a couple of years. Been working in stressful jobs for 40+ years that have taken a toll on my physical and mental health. I will be taking my NHS pension and l will live off the monthly sum and interest from the lump sum . It will be just below the tax threshold so I won't be paying any tax. I intend to live a frugal life between 60-67 years. Between dh's and my pp's and savings we will hopefully just about mange if we live frugally. We know there won't be big holidays and cruises but we both know we likely aren't going to live to be a great age.

"The term “economically inactive” makes me feel like a second class citizen, but maybe I’m being over sensitive…"

No - it's a deliberate ploy by certain sections of the media to make people believe that there are second class citizens worthy of scorn. They used to be referred to as "scroungers" but the attempt to use more couched language is usually to refer to people as either "net contributors" or "net takers". The impact and purpose is the same - to demonise those who find themselves, for whatever reason, out of work or "economically inactive" and to put a halo of superiority on the heads of those who see themselves somehow as being of more value to society based solely on their financial input (and ignoring the non-financial "contribution" that is made by carers, volunteers and people like grandparents who provide unpaid childcare for their grandchildren).

That is a great summary and describes the point I was trying to make more clearly.

It’s lazy by the government but sounds good in a headline

Sorry should say pp's means private pensions. We are not claiming PIP !

I guess I am one. I retired early in my mid 50s. I prefer to think of myself though as having a private income!

There is absolutely no way I would ever want another job even if anyone would hire me. I do not claim any state benefits. My state pension is a good few years off.

I have been economically inactive for decades. It has facilitated our family life. Our household is amongst the top 1% of tax payers 🤷‍♀️

It outlines it in the government white paper
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/get-britain-working-white-paper/get-britain-working-white-paper

Box 3: What do we mean by economic inactivity?According to internationally agreed definitions, people in the labour market fall into one of 3 groups: employed, unemployed and economically inactive. Economically inactive people are those without a job who have not sought work in the last 4 weeks and/or are not available to start work in the next 2 weeks. This differs from the definition of unemployment, where people are without a job but are seeking work and available to start. Many economically inactive people contribute to the economy in ways other than work, for example, by caring or studying to build their skills. However, the UK’s current high economic inactivity rate is unsustainable, leaving many people excluded from the labour market and holding back economic growth.

What makes you think pension incomes are not already taxed? I can assure that mine is.

Well I get carers allowance now because DH is disabled, this is £83 a week, and I also get a credit towards my state pension for when I reach pension age. I paid tax and NI from the age of 16 to 59. The only other benefit I have claimed is child benefit, and that was universal at the time.

If I went back to work instead of caring for DH he would need a care package that would cost the state many thousands of pounds a year. Lots more than I could hope to earn, let alone pay in tax. Oh and DH also paid tax for over 40 years while he was working, and still pays tax on his pensions.

So am I a net taker or contributer? I save the state more than I cost it in benefits, and in my lifetime I have contributed my share of working taxes. I also pay council tax, road tax, VAT, fuel tax etc, so a fairly substantial proportion of my £83 goes back to the state in one form or another.

Its really not as simple as they are making out.

I was using satire - yes my pension is taxed and the economy isn’t doing so well! It may be part of their clever plan to throw people back into working more.

Except for the very few exceptions where people really have no choice, you can be as economically inactive as you like, as long as you are not receiving free money from those who are active, and that free money includes use of public services because the money to most for those does not grow on trees.

One thing is for sure. The number of people living off the taxpayer is simply unsustainable and most of them could be working or working full time if they are not.

I would love to be economically active, but that would require a less broken SEND system.

The latest is our LA has decided to stop providing home to school transport for disabled sixth formers. Apparently others their age can get themselves to college, so if my disabled young person can't, it's completely proportional for me to give up my career to spend 25 hours a week driving them to and from the only college that would take them.

'Economically inactive' is a weirdly judgemental phrase isn't it ?

Other than being in a coma , most people are economically active, they buy things so are paying VAT, they live somewhere so pay council tax, they might drive so pay various taxes related to car ownership, they pay for utilities which support any number of privately owned companies, they buy food and other essentials, I can't think of anyone who doesn't contribute in any way to the economy ?

I only skimmed that white paper and it didn't seem to really mention the early retired, maybe I missed it. It was Jeremy Hunt that wanted the early retired to put in a couple of shifts in some low paid employment, so they probably missed that out as iirc it went down like a lead balloon, there was a couple of threads on here about it.

Where I used to work there a massive chunk of people mid to late 50’s took 18 months pay to leave and tightened there belt
no intention of working and living off redundancy and savings

Where I used to work there a massive chunk of people mid to late 50’s took 18 months pay to leave and tightened there belt
no intention of working and living off redundancy and savings

I am on benefits and pretty much all of my money goes back into the economy. I dont get the chance to save any.
Not sure how that makes me inactive? Like someone else has said on here, I feel awfully judged and really bad about how it is worded.

This isn’t restricted to the current Labour government.

Priti Patel was demonising the ‘ecomonically inactive’ in 2021.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/51560120.amp