The FINANCIAL — Poor health has been linked with the North’s poor productivity for the first time in a major new report by researchers from the University of Liverpool and five other northern universities.
The ‘Health for Wealth: Building a Healthier Northern Powerhouse for UK Productivity’ report was commissioned by the Northern Health Science Alliance to look at the relationship between the North’s poorer health and its poorer productivity.
Researchers from six universities, University of Liverpool, Newcastle University, University of Manchester, University of Lancaster, University of York and University of Sheffield, examined the relationship between poor health, investment in health services and economic indicators including employment, wages and productivity.
Economic Divide
Data for all local authorities in England and national survey data were used to estimate the effect of poor health and health care investment on these economic outcomes and the extent to which this contributed to the economic divide between the North of England and the rest of the country.
The researchers state that improving health in the North would lead to substantial economic gains, reducing the £4 gap in productivity per-person per-hour between the Northern Powerhouse and the rest of England by 30% or £1.20 per-person per-hour.
Other key report findings:
Tackling North’s health would generate an additional £13.2bn a year
Workers with ill health in the North are 39% more likely to lose their job
If these workers with ill health do return to work, their wages are 66% lower.
Decreasing rates of ill health and mortality would reduce the gap in gross value added (GVA) per-head between North and the Rest of England by 10%
A 1% increase in NHS spending per-head will increase the median weekly wage by £44 in the Northern Powerhouse compared to £26 in the rest of England
This is the first time the North’s poor productivity has been connected to health.
According to University of Liverpool
