Almost 10 million Britons are neither in work nor looking for work, new data has revealed - with over a million foreign workers arriving in the UK in just five years.
In monthly figures released by the Office for National Statistics, the number of "economically inactive" Britons has been shown to have risen to just over 9.4 million.
That figure marks a jump of almost 30,000 in the last month alone, building on trends which started before the pandemic.
Since the end of 2019, the number of 16 to 64-year-olds out of work has surged by over 1 million people - 230,000 of which were born overseas.
The surge in jobless Britons has left employers looking overseas
PA
That still leaves a staggering 830,000 "economically inactive" Britons - with contributing factors including those claiming long-term sickness and a bump in the number of students.
Since students are counted as being out-of-work, the jump in foreign jobless people can largely be pinned on foreign student numbers having shot up.
But among Britons, a rise in the number of people in full-time education only accounts for a third of the rise of out-of-work people born in this country.
In total, the amount of British-born workers has fallen by 967,000 since the end of 2019 - and further ONS data shows that foreign-born workers are making up the gap.
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The jump in foreign jobless people can largely be pinned on foreign student numbers having shot up
PA
In that time, more than a million foreign-born workers have taken jobs in the UK, which has driven the number of working Britons down below 80 per cent of the total workforce.
Again, at the end of 2019, 82 per cent of those in employment were born in the UK - a 10 percentage point drop from a 92 per cent figure in 2000.
Despite the soaring numbers of jobless Britons, there are still more than 800,000 job vacancies in the UK - with recruitment firm bosses fielding reasons as to why.
ManpowerGroup UK director Petra Tagg said: "Employers are struggling to fulfil their ambitions to grow... A lack of workforce participation from those who are of working age is still constricting economic growth."
Neil Carberry, the chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, said employers have been forced to look to foreign labour to fill gaps.
He said: "Someone who is willing to change country to work is highly motivated to work... They are coming in and engaging in the job search!"
Though recruiters didn't draw attention to slowing wage growth which is rising at just 5.4 per cent annually - the slowest for two years - and lower wage demands from foreign workers, essentially indicating UK pay rates are only becoming competitive abroad.
Regardless, the Institute of Directors' Alexandra Hall-Chen said the availability of skills and labour remains a "pressing" issue for employers - and pointed to the fact that economic inactivity remains "significantly higher" than pre-pandemic levels.
Hall-Chen raised fears over the demographic impact on the economy as a whole, saying: "Without effective action to bring more people back into the workforce, sustained economic growth will be all but impossible."