WORK, we all know, can be both curse and blessing. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it. And, as in certain other areas of life, living without can be more problematic. The impact of worklessness on health is known. But the impact of ill-health on the working economy also needs consideration.

Professor Ewan McDonald, of Glasgow University, warns of the need to keep people in work to avoid an unsustainable drain on the NHS. He suggests re-skilling older workers and urges more investment in rehabilitation for those keen on continuing to work.

His warning and suggestions should be heeded, particularly as our population ages. At all ages, ill-health comes at an obvious cost to the individual, which joblessness can exacerbate, but also to society, through pressure on health and welfare services and through skills and tax revenues being lost to the economy.

Such considerations don’t overshadow individual wellbeing but are intertwined with it. Being workless can affect status, personal worth and mortality. When ill health strikes, being workless can double the pain. It is important, therefore, to provide routes back into employment for those who want it, for the good of both individual and society.

An individual can live without work, but a society cannot live without workers and must provide the chance to rehabilitate or retrain all who would contribute.