Boost to UK economy as it beats some of world’s richest countries in key metric

The UK has beaten the United States in a key economic metric among G7 countries, according to data by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

An OECD graph featured in Radix compares economic activity rates for 15-64 year olds across G7 economies, showed the UK had a higher rate of economic activity than the United States, Italy and France from 2010 until 2022.

The UK’s economically inactive population, meaning the percentage of people neither in a job or seeking work, was also lower than Japan until 2018, however Japan’s numbers fell and it remained in first place until 2022.

Until 2021, the UK was also less economically inactive than Germany, and it also had a better rate than Canada, which overtook just before.

According to data by OECD in October 2024, the employment rate of the working age population was also highest among the same four G7 countries.

Japan had an employment rate of 79.3 percent, Germany’s was 77.4 percent, Canada was at 74.8 percent and the UK was at 74.5 percent.

The United States, France and Italy were behind with an employment rate of 71.9, 69 and 62 percent respectively.

The OECD labour force participation rate of workers aged 15 to 64 reached its highest level at 74% with record highs of 67.1% for women and of 81% for men, in the second quarter of 2024.

A chart by OneAdvanced also shows that UK workers take less sick days than their counterparts in the European countries including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Sweden.

Interestingly, Germany had the highest average of over 18 days per year, despite being one of the most “economically active” countries in the G7.