Record numbers of British workers are sick. No wonder the economy is too. But there is a cure

Junior doctors strike, London. ‘The government’s long-running battle with nurses and junior doctors has been a spectacular own goal.’ Photograph: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock

Britain has a sick economy. That’s not a metaphor for the flatlining of growth over the past year, but a statement of fact. Never before have so many people been out of the labour force due to long-term sickness or disability. Never before has there been such a loss of human potential.

Better health is desirable in itself. Ill-health makes people miserable, so it shouldn’t really matter whether or not there were economic benefits from reducing the number of people who might want to work if they fell well enough to do so. Gross domestic product is not everything.