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Young people in the UK are more likely to leave their job for health reasons and become economically inactive when they work in insecure, low-paid sectors, a study has found.
Research carried out for the Trades Union Congress by the consultancy Timewise charts a connection between the jobs young people are most likely to do – in hospitality, retail and care, for example – and the proportion of people leaving because of ill health.
“The occupations that young people are concentrated in are associated with high numbers of people moving into long-term sickness and worklessness,” the analysis said.
The authors said that these sectors were also among those most likely to offer precarious or low-paid jobs.
More than 40% of staff in accommodation and food services are in insecure working arrangements, for example. That includes zero-hours contracts, agency working or low-paid self-employment.
The chief executive of Timewise, Clare McNeil, said: “Insecure and poor-quality jobs are contributing to a rising epidemic of inactivity amongst the young, who have the most precarious, low-mobility jobs of all.
“Our analysis shows that expecting young people to take up insecure, physical, inflexible work when they are facing a disability or mental health problems is futile – too often these jobs don’t work and they don’t last.”
By analysing flows out of work and into long-term sickness in official data, the research found these were highest in sectors where young people were disproportionately likely to be employed.
“Three sectors that account for the highest volumes of workers moving into economic inactivity due to ill health are also the sectors where young people are most likely to work: wholesale and retail, food and accommodation and health and social care,” the study said.
The research also showed that roles most at risk of long-term inactivity because of sickness included hospital porters, road transport drivers, kitchen staff and leisure and theme park attendants.
The authors said the findings showed the forthcoming government-commissioned review of youth inactivity, by the former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, should focus on job quality, as well as quantity.
The latest official figures showed that 957,000 people aged 16-24 were not in employment, education or training (Neet) in the final three months of 2025 – 13% of the total. Almost half of this group have ill health or a disability.
Milburn is expected to publish a report this summer on how to tackle the recent rise in youth inactivity. The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has already announced a separate, £1bn scheme aimed at tackling youth unemployment, which will offer employers £3,000 to take on a young person who has been out of work for six months or more.
Milburn recently warned that today’s parents are concerned that their children will fare worse than they did. “There’s a broader fear that parents and grandparents have, that their kids … are not going to do as well as we’ve done,” he said. “That’s the first time that’s really happened in a century. I think people feel that the social contract that we’ve had in society, that each generation would do better than the last, is now being broken.”
Paul Nowak, the TUC’s secretary general, said the link between job quality and economic inactivity underlined the importance of implementing the government’s Employment Rights Act.
“Young people need good secure jobs with decent prospects, including notice of their shifts and sick pay when they’re ill. But too often they’re stuck in insecure, low-paid work which leaves them at greater risk of dropping out of the workforce due to ill health,” he said. “That’s why the Employment Rights Act is so important and must be implemented in full.”
Some aspects of the act, including the right to statutory sick pay and paternity leave from day one of employment, come into force this month, while others, including the right to have reasonable notice of shift patterns, will follow in 2027.
Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said: “Hospitality is proven to offer quality, fulfilling and flexible pathways into work and careers – whether it’s a young person’s first job or a flexible, supportive role for someone entering back into work.
“The ever-rising cost of employment, which particularly punishes the availability of entry-level, part-time and flexible roles, is one of the main driving forces behind the rising number of young people not in work.”
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said retail was “built on flexible, local jobs that serve as vital entry points for young people … If implementation of certain provisions within the Employment Rights Act, such as guaranteed hours, treat flexibility as insecurity by default, employers would become more cautious and that in turn would reduce the availability of such crucial opportunities in communities right across the country.”
