Mental health epidemic grips UK as poor education, joblessness coincide among youth

A mental health crisis is brewing in the UK as people in early 20s are more likely to get jobless owing to poor health as compared to those in their early 40s since the former might not have had steady education.

The findings have been revealed by the Resolution Foundation.

According to a report in The Guardian that cited official data, 34 per cent Britons in the age group of 18 and 24 reported symptoms of such mental disorder as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder in 2021-22.

This is alarming since the jump in this number from a year earlier has been 10 per cent. In 2000, it was 24 per cent. Moreover, young women were more at risk.

“Attention on this issue has tended to focus on higher education, but what should most worry us is when poor mental health comes together with poor education outcomes,” The Guardian quoted Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, as having said.

The correlation between poor mental health and its economic manifestations was found to be most considerable for the younger people who did not attend university, Murphy said.

According to the report in The Guardian, 79 per cent of those between 18 and 24 who are jobless owing to poor health have qualifications as low as GCSE or below.

The research also cited that 12 per cent of those between 11 and 16 with poor mental health missed over 15 days of school in the autumn term of 2023. This figure stood at one in 50 healthier kids.

The Guardian quoted Jo Bibby, director of health at the Health Foundation, as saying: “Policymakers need to focus on the building blocks of health, such as good employment and education, to ensure young people get the support they need and have the tools to move through the world as adults.”

“Without concerted cross-government action, we risk creating a ‘lost generation’ due to ill health.”

The research also found that learning outcomes were affected badly for kids between 11 and 14 with poor mental health. Such kids were three times more likely to fail at five crucial subjects in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) such as Maths and English.

In 2022, the study suggested, 40 per cent of those between 18 and 24 with mental health issues were in a low-paid job, compared with 35 per cent of healthier people. Correspondingly, one-third of young people with mental health problems and no degree are out of work, compared with way low figure of 17 per cent for graduates with the same mental health issue.