Long-term absence from work has rocketed to its highest degree since 2004, as 2.5 million folks languish on the sick checklist.

Those struggling psychological well being points, again and neck ache – generally attributable to residence working – have elevated. Coughs and colds have additionally made a comeback post-Covid.

Office for National Statistics figures present 185.6million working days have been misplaced to illness or harm final yr. That was 2.6 % of all working hours, up from 2.2 % in 2021.

Back in 2020, it was simply 1.8 %, as lockdowns and lack of social mixing prevented bugs circulating. The newest rise, pushed by a rise in minor diseases and respiratory situations, signifies that for each 13 folks working, one is long-term sick.

Wales had the best illness price – at 3.6 % – among the many residence nations, adopted by Scotland with 3 %. Northern Ireland’s was 2.7 % and England 2.5 %.

The lowest price was in London at 2.1 %. There, the ONS mentioned youthful employees and extra high-skilled jobs with fewer absences performed an element.

Britain’s public sector employees had an absence price of three.6 % in contrast with their personal sector counterparts at 2.3 %, up 0.6 and 0.4 proportion factors respectively from 2021.

Public sector illness has been greater for yearly on document. The ONS suggests the forms of jobs and higher sick pay could possibly be elements.

David Freeman, of the ONS, mentioned: “Because the working population is much bigger now than it was nearly 20 years ago, the total number of working days lost last year was the highest on record.”

The figures additionally confirmed wage will increase failing to maintain up with rising costs.However, public sector pay is rising on the quickest tempo for about 20 years.

The ONS mentioned an increase in part-time and self-employed employees helped push up the employment price within the first three months of this yr and the variety of job vacancies fell once more.

In extra pressure on the roles market, the jobless price hit 3.9 % within the three months to March. It was up from 3.8 % within the earlier quarter and the best degree for the reason that three months to January 2022.

It additionally confirmed the primary drop in payrolled employees for greater than two years. The ONS mentioned the extra well timed PAYE figures indicated the primary salaried workers fall since February 2021 – and an estimated 136,000 discount to 29.8 million.

In one other signal of a flagging jobs market, vacancies fell by 55,000 quarter-on-quarter to 1.08 million within the three months to April amid “uncertainty across industries”.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt mentioned whereas the low unemployment price was encouraging, “difficulty in finding staff and rising prices are a worry for many families and businesses”.

Industrial unrest meant the lack of 556,000 working days to strikes in March – up from 332,000 in February.