Nearly two-thirds of people in their early 20s were living with their parents last year, according to the Resolution Foundation, up from 51% in 2011, leading to suggestions Gen Z is increasingly dependent on the “hotel of mum and dad”.

However, soaring housing costs have made it unaffordable for many young people to fly the nest, while a sharp fall in entry-level work has made it challenging to find a secure job.

The most recent official figures showed Britain’s unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds stood at 16.2% in the three months to June as young people struggled to find work.

School leavers and university graduates have warned that despite sending out dozens of job applications many never hear a response from employers, making the job-finding process even more disheartening.

Despite over-50s being found to take less unnecessary time off, there are concerns that rising numbers of older workers are being cast out of the labour market.

‘Part of the solution’

Nikita Malik, at the CSJ, said: “Workers in their 50s and above bring enormous experience and commitment to the workplace, and our polling shows they are much less likely than younger colleagues to take unnecessary time off.”

Government data showed people in their 50s or older were the age group most likely to be made redundant.

The polling also found a clear generational divide in the reasons staff gave when telling an employer they were too unwell to work when their symptoms were not serious enough to prevent them from working.

Almost four in five under-25s said being “too tired” had contributed to taking unnecessary time off, compared with 40% of workers aged 55 to 64.

Just more than half of workers under 25 said social reasons, such as a late night or hangover, had played a role in pulling a “sickie”, compared with 19% of over-55s.

It came after the CSJ found a record 2.15 million people aged 50 to 64 are now receiving out-of-work benefits, an increase of 600,000 compared with before the pandemic.

Of these, fewer than two in every 100 are required to look for employment, leading to worries that many older Britons are being signed off and discouraged from returning to work.

Malik said: “If the Prime Minister wants to unlock growth and tackle economic inactivity, Britain’s workforce in their midlife and beyond must be seen as part of the solution.”

However, official figures show the economic inactivity rate for people aged 50 to 64 was 25.7% in the three months to June, above the 20.9% rate for people aged 16 to 64.

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