Britain is sleepwalking into a quiet epidemic of joblessness that threatens to sideline millions and drain public finances, the boss of the UK’s largest supermarket chain has warned.
Ashwin Prasad, who runs Tesco’s UK operations, delivered the stark message as official figures show more than nine million people aged 16- 64 classed as economically inactive, neither in work nor actively seeking it.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Resolution Foundation thinktank, Prasad described the trend as a “clear, gradual change” over the past decade that has left far fewer people in employment than the country could, and should, support.”We have been sleepwalking into a quiet epidemic that is keeping millions of people out of work,” he said.
A heavy toll on taxpayers
The Tesco UK chief highlighted the heavy toll on taxpayers, arguing that an ever-larger share of national income is now swallowed up by out-of-work benefits rather than being channelled into growth-boosting investment.
“My perspective from being a major employer in this country is that far fewer people are at work than they could be,” Prasad said. “This means instead of investing in parts of national life that might stimulate investment and growth into the wider economy, we are spending an ever-increasing proportion of our national income on our out-of-work benefits.”
He pointed to myriad reasons behind the surge in inactivity, noting that life has been “incredibly challenging” for lower-income households amid prolonged political instability and economic uncertainty.
A growing jobs problem
The warning lands against a backdrop of official data showing the UK’s unemployment rate climbing to a four-year high of 5.1% last month. Among younger adults, the picture is particularly worrying: almost a million 16- to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training – a 26% jump from pre-pandemic levels. Thinktank analysis from the Centre for Social Justice also reveals that more than 700,000 university graduates are currently out of work and claiming welfare benefits.
Prasad, whose company is Britain’s biggest private-sector employer with over 300,000 staff across more than 5,000 stores, stressed that retail offers some of the most flexible entry points into the workforce, ideal for first-timers or those returning after childcare or caring responsibilities.
Yet he suggested ministers are only “tinkering at the edges” of the problem rather than pursuing the bold reforms needed.
“We cannot afford to be a country that lets the next generation languish on the sidelines,” he urged, calling for closer collaboration between government and businesses to reverse the slide.
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