In an effort to tackle rising unemployment rates, the government has launched a controversial pilot study using the weight-loss drug Mounjaro. The five-year trial, based in Manchester, will involve 3,000 participants to determine if the medication can help more people return to the workforce. However, critics argue that this approach unfairly targets the jobless and fails to address the underlying socioeconomic factors contributing to both obesity and unemployment.
The Obesity-Unemployment Connection
Studies have long shown a correlation between obesity and unemployment, with those who are out of work more likely to struggle with weight gain. Health Secretary Wes Streeting recently wrote that “our widening waistbands are holding back our economy,” suggesting that addressing obesity could help boost labor participation rates.
However, experts caution that the relationship is not straightforward. “It is not so much that obesity causes unemployment as that becoming unemployed leads to weight gain,” notes Kenan Malik, an Observer columnist. He points to the “endless misery” of joblessness, exacerbated by low-quality employment, lack of social infrastructure, poor transportation, and meager benefits, as key factors driving unhealthy lifestyles among the unemployed.
Echoes of Victorian Attitudes
Critics argue that using obesity drugs to push people back into the labor market hearkens back to Victorian-era attitudes blaming the poor for their own hardships. Just as the “undeserving poor” were once castigated for their supposed indolence and intemperance, today’s jobless are increasingly viewed through a moralistic lens, with their weight seen as a personal failing rather than a product of broader social and economic forces.
Targeting people in the interests of the state, for economic reasons, rather than prioritising the person’s own interests and health is unethical.
– Simon Capewell, emeritus professor of public health, Liverpool University
Treating Symptoms, Not Causes
While weight-loss medications like Mounjaro may prove beneficial for some individuals, experts caution against viewing them as a panacea for the complex challenges of unemployment. “Giving the unemployed weight-loss jabs fits into a long history of shifting blame onto the victims of economic policy,” writes Malik. “Unemployment is not a medical condition. Medical treatment should not be in the province of the DWP.”
Instead, advocates call for a more holistic approach that addresses the root causes of both obesity and joblessness, such as:
- Investing in quality job creation and training programs
- Improving access to affordable, nutritious food in underserved communities
- Expanding social services and infrastructure to support healthy lifestyles
- Raising minimum wages and strengthening the social safety net
Profit Motive or Public Good?
The Mounjaro study has also raised questions about the influence of pharmaceutical giants like Lilly, which stands to profit handsomely if its drug becomes a government-endorsed solution to unemployment. “It would be a marvellous bit of marketing for the company,” notes Professor Capewell, who previously critiqued a similar proposal involving Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy drug.
As policymakers grapple with the intersecting crises of obesity and unemployment, it is crucial that they prioritize evidence-based approaches that center the health and dignity of affected individuals, rather than the interests of corporations or the state. Only by addressing the underlying social determinants of these challenges can we hope to build a more equitable and prosperous society for all.
