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The future's grey: older workers on the rise

by Dolly Dhingra

Britain has an aging population. Do older workers want to keep working? What do they have to offer? Dolly Dhingra reports

‘Age is the hot employment issue,’ says Jessica Bone, policy and research coordinator at Employers Forum on Age (EFA). And there’s no arguing with her. Britain’s demographics are having a sweeping impact on the nature of the labour market. As the unemployment queue grows to its highest level in the past 3 years, around a third of men and women aged 50–65, remain out of work, although this figure is dropping. The post-war baby boom means that the present state pension scheme will have to triple in size to provide for baby boomers in their old age. Government and businesses alike are frantically trying to address these issues in a number of ways.

Charles Walker of Blue Arrow recruitment supports the search for solutions that focus on older workers. ‘In today’s climate of low unemployment and severe skills shortages, we need to embrace the wealth of knowledge older workers have and provide them with the opportunities to maintain their contact with the workplace. This will become increasingly important as 40% of the population will be over 60 in around fifteen years’ time,’ he says. The Government’s introduction of The New Deal 50 has made an encouraging start, helping thousands of people over 50 back to work. It provides practical and financial help for older people wanting to re-enter the labour market. As well as training, it offers an extra £60 tax free on top of a weekly wage for full-time workers, depending on eligibility.

More freedoms or just more work?
In October 2006, age discrimination legislation comes into force. The regulations hope to enable over-60s to escape the poverty of retirement by making it illegal to prevent them from working, as long as they like. The law complies with a European Union Directive agreed in 2000 to outlaw discrimination against people at work on the grounds of age, religion, disability or sexual orientation. British businesses have only a few years to prepare.