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06 February 2009 18:20
Ninety percent of employees think it is more difficult for older members of staff to find a new job than their younger colleagues. So says a new study from ICM commissioned by Age Concern.
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: "Older workers are facing a double whammy of faster rises in unemployment levels than other age groups [as well as] forced retirement."
The over-50s and women are the two groups being hit hardest in the current slowdown, new research has revealed as official unemployment figures aproach the two million mark.
From January to September 2008 the redundancy rate among female workers increased by 2.3%, compared to just 1.2% for men, according to new analysis from the Trades Union Congress.
Age Concern reports that the official rate of unemployment among over 50 is rising at more than double the rate of any other age group.
Writing on Publicfinance.co.uk, Lishman argues "The government must also ensure that, as in previous recessions, older workers do not bear the brunt of the economic downturn. In the early 1990s, the employment rate for men over the age of 50 fell by seven points and did not recover for almost a decade. Labour supply in the subsequent upturn was suppressed by the premature exit from the labour market of more than 300,000 older workers."
"Unemployed people over 50 have the highest rates of long-term unemployment so Age Concern supports the emphasis on getting them back into work in the welfare white paper. But this will work only if jobs are available and the right kind of support is on offer – this is not currently the case and sanctions to withdraw benefits should not be introduced until they are. These proposals must go hand in hand with a strategy to keep the over-50s in work in the first place."
"This means ending mandatory retirement ages, which allow employers to force workers into retirement at the age of 65, regardless of performance or ability. Only a third of those who retire early do so voluntarily and one in five employers has said they plan to use MRAs in the economic downturn. MRAs create a barrier to opportunities for selection, promotion, training and job mobility for people in their late 50s and early 60s."
Age Concern is currently challenging the Mandatory Retirement Age laws in a bid to allow older workers the choice to decide when they want to give up work. However without significant political will, older workers will continue to bear the brunt as firms look to streamline operations.
To read more of Gordon Lishman's comments visit Public Finance
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Over 50s and women suffering most in downturn
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janetwoofer says
RE: Over 50s and women suffering most in downturn
That is not the case, one can always use our experience to find a good job to work independently. I have recently started a small telecom business selling cheap international calls and find that I make quite a lot of money. All I do is sell information such as Text CHARITY to 80041 for a £3 call credit or Text CHARITY to 80550 for a £5 call credit. You will received a PIN and Access Number which allows you to make calls to make international Calls from Just 1/2 pence a minute as well as information about direct access numbers which are available on callndonate.co.uk To add a twist to the whole thing, I donate 5% of the total call charges to charity (which I hope to do shortly). This allows me to spend my time productively. It is true that I do not earn much (about £10 over the last one year) but then I do get the satisfaction of being productive. There are people who earn about £500 or so but maybe I am not doing this correctly. Well where there is a will there is a way
That is not the case, one can always use our experience to find a good job to work independently. I have recently started a small telecom business selling cheap international calls and find that I make quite a lot of money. All I do is sell information such as Text CHARITY to 80041 for a £3 call credit or Text CHARITY to 80550 for a £5 call credit. You will received a PIN and Access Number which allows you to make calls to make international Calls from Just 1/2 pence a minute as well as information about direct access numbers which are available on callndonate.co.uk
To add a twist to the whole thing, I donate 5% of the total call charges to charity (which I hope to do shortly). This allows me to spend my time productively. It is true that I do not earn much (about £10 over the last one year) but then I do get the satisfaction of being productive. There are people who earn about £500 or so but maybe I am not doing this correctly.
Well where there is a will there is a way
10 March 2009 09:40
LesleyBroughton says
I am self employed and help my husband in his small 6 man business. The legislation heaped upon our business in the past 10 years or so come with serious expense to implement. Where do the policy makers in government think small businessmen get the finances to pay for all this. We work harder and harder purely to pay for more and more control freakery gone mad. Soon we will be out of business, lose our home and we have worked for years. We do not socialise or go on holiday. We do the same job now as we did 30 years ago but have more and more rules for this, rules for that, serious fines warnings if legislation is not implemented and so on. There will soon be no small businesses in this country. Then where does the government get its money from. The Taxpayer is the Governments coffers. We will not be bailed out for working hard because we are not a failed bank. No help for the small man. Who cares.
24 February 2009 19:44
bridgetj says
I am a well qualified and experience accountant and project manager and I was made redundant just over 12 months ago. I am 58. Age discrimiation prevents businesses from asking your age on application forms and based on these I have managed to get many interviews but once I attend the interview - it is obvious that I am not in the first flush of youth and I think this may be the reason that I have failed to get an offers of work. I feel that I could be making a valuable contribution to society but I am not being given the opportunity
I am a well qualified and experience accountant and project manager and I was made redundant just over 12 months ago. I am 58.
Age discrimiation prevents businesses from asking your age on application forms and based on these I have managed to get many interviews but once I attend the interview - it is obvious that I am not in the first flush of youth and I think this may be the reason that I have failed to get an offers of work.
I feel that I could be making a valuable contribution to society but I am not being given the opportunity
10 February 2009 09:21
