MORE than two in five Barrow residents were economically inactive in 2021, new census figures show.
The Resolution Foundation said rising numbers of people in economic inactivity must be addressed as Treasurer Jeremy Hunt aimed to get people back to work with his Spring Budget this week.
The Census figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show 23,140 residents in Barrow were economically inactive between March 15 and 22 2021.
An economically inactive person is aged 16 and over and did not have a job in that time period, could not start work in the next two weeks, or had not looked for work in the month before.
It meant 41.4% of over-16s in the area were economically inactive.
Across the two countries, 19.1 million over-16s (39.4%) were economically inactive.
The census figures show 3,305 Barrow residents were not working or looking for work due to long-term sickness or disability in March 2021.
A further 14,605 had retired.
It meant long-term sickness or disability accounted for 14.3% of the economically inactive people in the area, while 63.1% were retired.
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