Over-50s face hidden worklessness crisis with millions on sidelines
MELBOURNE: Over-50s are facing a hidden worklessness crisis as millions find themselves on the sidelines, a charity has warned.
The Centre for Ageing Better said the number of people aged over 50 struggling to find work was comparable to Britain’s youth worklessness crisis.
The Centre for Ageing Better said almost a million people over the age of 50 were struggling to find work at the end of last year, the highest level since 2020.
When including those with long-term health conditions and caring responsibilities, the number rises to over 2.9 million.
Carole Easton, the chief executive of the Centre for Ageing Better, said many over-50s had been pushed to “breaking point” by ageism and repeatedly receiving no response from job applications.
She said: “We have spoken with people whose careful future financial planning has been ripped up after being frozen out of the labour market through ageism. They now face losing everything they have worked towards over decades.
“We have spoken with people who have become completely demoralised from sending hundreds of fruitless job applications with scarcely a response or acknowledgement.”
The Centre for Ageing Better called on ministers to pay as much attention to the jobs crisis among over-50s as it does to workless young people.
The charity urged the Government to publish figures for the number of over-50s not in education, training, employment or retirement (Neter), in the same way it provides data on the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neets).
Andrea Barry, of the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “Neets and Neters share a lot in common, and for those reasons both groups need tailored and targeted support. They are both an underused pool of talent whose employment rates wallow at levels well below other age groups.
“They are both groups whose capabilities are questioned or underestimated based on unfounded assumptions about their age. And they are two groups who potentially face the most amount of uncertainty and threat in the workplace from the rise of AI.”
The Centre for Ageing Better estimated that the Government had spent 10 times a much trying to get young people into jobs as helping over-50s into work over the last decade.
Around £820m was designated to tackle youth worklessness in last year’s Budget. Alan Milburn, a former health secretary, is overseeing an independent review into the causes of Britain’s youth worklessness crisis.
There were 981,000 young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training in the three months to June, official figures show.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We provide dedicated support to older workers via midlife reviews to encourage people to evaluate their skills and help break down barriers to employment, while our women’s employment ambassador is collaborating with employers to enhance workplace support for women experiencing menopause symptoms.”