Aerial views of Hastings Sussex (Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Express)
The seaside town Of Hastings on the Sussex coast has the highest proportion of people out of the workforce because of sickness, with roughly one in ten not in employment.
Around 5,500 people there are claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for an illness, disability or mental health condition, up 44% since before the pandemic in January 2020.
Under-40s have seen the fastest decline in health since the pandemic, with mental health conditions the most commonly cited ailment.
Figures from the 2021 Census show the number of young people aged 16 to 34 in Hastings saying they had bad health was joint highest in Britain.
Analysis of economic inactivity data published by the ONS is based on small sample sizes and can be volatile, but it is indicative, the Daily Telegraph reports.
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The problem of poor health and the linked crisis in economic inactivity has become worse since the pandemic. Hastings’ inactivity rate of 14.7% is up from 4.3% in 2019.
“Young people just don’t want to work anymore”, Claudio Ganadu, managing director at Rustico Italiano, a restaurant group that employs around 80 people across Sussex told the Telegraph.
He added that “fewer under-25s are applying for jobs and many who do are lazy” and “people are not as willing as before to do some jobs.”
Catherine Parr and Laurence Bell, who have run the White Rock Hotel on the Hastings seafront for nearly 20 years, added that “a lot of people apply for jobs who have no intention of taking the job.”
Aerial views of Hastings (Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Express)
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In Hastings, one in 10 young people leave school with no plans for higher education or work – almost twice the English average.
And in terms of opportunities for young people, Hastings has more in common with Blackpool than regional neighbours such as vibrant Brighton or posh Tunbridge Wells.
Matt Davey, the founder of a local community interest company called Head on Board, told the Guardian that crime is also an issue in Hastings.
He said: “The centre of Hastings has some of the highest levels of crime in the county, the local schools are constantly changing, and the biggest employer is the care industry. It forms this perfect storm for young people.”