The United Kingdom faced significant challenges in 2022, with record numbers of working days lost due to short-term sickness and no growth in economic output per

hour worked in the final quarter, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics.

The figures highlight the ongoing struggle with productivity that has impacted living standards in the UK for years, as well as the challenges the country faces as it emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, British workers took 185.6 million days off work due to sickness or injury, even more than during the pandemic itself. The percentage of hours lost due to sickness or injury was also the highest since 2004.

Sickness absence was most common in the care sector and related personal services roles. Additionally, output per hour worked remained unchanged between the final quarters of 2021 and 2022, reflecting continued weakness in productivity. Economists cite factors such as weak business investment, Brexit-related trade barriers, and deficiencies in employee and management skills as reasons for the UK's poor productivity performance. Photo by Phil Whitehouse, Wikimedia commons.