Unemployed Brits will receive free Ozempic-style weight-loss shots to help them get jobs

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy “could be very important” for the country’s sluggish economy.

‘This drug will be very helpful to people who want to lose weight, need to lose weight, very important for the economy so people can get back into work,” the Labour Party leader told the BBC.

His comments come after Health Secretary Wes Streeting wrote in an opinion piece for the Telegraph that “our widening waistbands” are “holding back our economy” and that weight loss injections could help the unemployed find jobs. 

“Illness caused by obesity causes people to take an extra four sick days a year on average, while many others are forced out of work altogether,” he explained.

“The long-term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity. For many people, these weight-loss jabs will be life-changing, help them get back to work, and ease the demands on our NHS.”

Their comments come as the government announced a five-year trial of the weight loss drug Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, on 3,000 participants.

Health Innovation Manchester and Mounjaro’s maker, Lilly—the world’s largest pharmaceutical company—are set to examine whether using the drug will actually reduce unemployment, as well as, the use of public health services and obesity-related complications.

11 million Brits are currently unemployed

Millions of people around the world are currently unemployed. In the U.K. alone, about a quarter of people of working-age—nearly 11 million people—do not currently have jobs. 

According to the International Labour Organization, about 402 million people are without a job right now, but want to work.

It’s not clear what percentage of the unemployed population are locked out of jobs because of obesity-related illnesses, which as the government says causes just four extra four sick days a year, on average.

It’s also unclear clear how Starmer or Streeting think weight-loss shots will help people who are overweight—but not unwell—nab jobs. The offices of both declined Fortune’s request for comment on whether slimmer job seekers may face less bias in interviews or find it easier to handle strenuous workloads.

Other issues to face

But there are other factors unemployed people will have to contend with anyway, whether or not they manage to get their hands on Ozempic—like the lack of available jobs in the first instance. 

For example, a recent report by Korn Ferry blamed the growing number of “unemployables” on a “perfect storm” of AI stealing jobs and economic uncertainty. 

Although inflation is cooling, the report highlighted that bosses aren’t reinstating roles they cut during the pandemic because they’re expecting AI to increase worker efficiency. 

Case in point: Cisco, Microsoft and Intuit, have all recently pointed to automation as justification for the mass culling of their workforces.

Even many fresh-faced Gen Zers—or rather, NEETs—have already given up on finding work in the current climate.