I WAS intrigued and alarmed to read in our own newspaper recently that flood hit communities in Somerset were going to have to wait until at least Christmas for crucial reports which will suggest measures to prevent a repeat of these terrible events.
Now that worries me and I don’t even live in a flood risk area. For those who do, it must be very hard to swallow – and even harder to understand.
The reason? Staffing shortages apparently. Presumably that will be the same staffing shortages that prevent so many people getting a doctor’s appointment, or a plumber to fix a leak.
The same staffing shortages experienced by pubs, restaurants, farms, supermarkets and distribution companies… the list goes on.
Which leads me to ask: Where have all the workers gone?
Statistically, the worst of the problems can be traced back to the COVID pandemic.
Every developing country experienced sharp increases in what statisticians like to call “economic inactivity” (people not going to work).
The thing is that in most other developing countries that rate fell back reasonably quickly post pandemic - in other words most people went back to work. But in Britain it was different.
Read more: Residents hit by recent floods must wait until Christmas for crucial reports
I’ve been reading a report by the Office for National Statistics (ok, I was bored!)
And it says that there are four factors at play: An increase in the number of 50-64 year olds taking early retirement, increasing sickness, an ageing population and changes in migration. Phew – quite a list!
Government figures also show that the number of people not employed and not actively looking for work has remained at a persistently high rate since it surged during the pandemic.
Read into that what you will. But I’m sensing a lot of people who re-assessed their priorities during lockdown. Those people who thought: “You know what, I don’t like what I’m doing …so I’m not going back there!”
Quite how so many people can afford to do that is a little beyond me. But good luck to them, I guess.
If you wish to contact Clinton, you can email him at clinton.rogers@countygazette.co.uk
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