We need to think about older workers - by Tim Whitaker

One of the perverse benefits of the pandemic is how it’s thrown up new ways of thinking about life and work – a kind of collective pause to reflect and perhaps even improvement- summed up in the oft quoted phrase “Build back Better.” Whilst this is appealing and indeed cathartic, the optimism butts up against reality.

Take older workers. Pre-pandemic we were witnessing a steady growth in employment rates of over 55s reflecting an ageing society plus claims that over 65s will account for half of all employment growth in the next ten years. This would replace the traditional fixed and chronologically mapped life stages of education, work and then the enjoyable and much needed retirement, with a vastly different future. Just look at Joe Biden.

But two years into the pandemic we are now seeing some harsh effects on the labour market affecting older workers.

Key is what’s being called the “great retirement” happening in the UK and mirrored in the US. There are now 180,000 fewer over 50s in work than before the pandemic. In September 2021, 362,000 in this age group were unemployed, and 3.5 million people aged 50-64 were classed as ‘economically inactive' – choosing not to seek work. The proportion of people aged 50-64 living in a household where everyone works has fallen 2.9 percentage points since before covid .The statistics show the employment gap between 50-64s and 35-49s now standing at 14.8% – nearly two percentage points higher than at the start of the pandemic.

Apart from young people the second hardest hit age group post pandemic are over 50s and in the jargon most at risk of “scarring”. There are signs that younger workers are bouncing back with a more vibrant job market. A third of under 30s who were not working in the first lockdown had found work in a new industry by March of this year – but only 7 per cent of over 50s. ”. In London it’s estimated 14,000 older workers may drop out of the labour market because of uncertainty.

Several reasons may explain why older workers are having a tough time.

Older workers have less job mobility than younger workers and don’t switch jobs and are perhaps not adept at adjusting to the changing job market. In 2015-19, 5.8 per cent of 16-24-year-olds moved jobs per quarter, five times the rate of 55-to-64-year-olds (1.2 per cent).
Finding new work is tricky for older workers – most older workers don’t have much recent experience of searching for work. Research shows that pre covid, older workers were less likely to return to work after spells of unemployment than younger workers. Among all those unemployed in their late 50s, less than one in three returned to work over the course of a year, compared with about half of those unemployed in their mid-30s.

Older workers may not have the right skills. Nationally, rates of participation in learning and training decline sharply after age 54. According to the Learning and Work Institute, less than 40% of people aged 55–64 participated in any learning activity at all during lockdown.

But these problems are compounded by the effects of ageism in recruitment and a lack of age diversity by some employers. Ageism has unfortunately become rife during the pandemic. Surveys of 60 -65-year-olds show that over two thirds believe their age made employers less likely to hire them due to feeling overqualified and not having the right skills. Ageism in job adverts and recruitment has been highlighted by the Centre for Ageing Better and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation with guides for HR professionals, but there’s some terrible and blatant poor practice tolerated.

Of course, statistics need to be unpacked, and sadly those with lower levels of education, those from BAME communities and women are at risk in being less likely to get jobs after becoming unemployed. But we also need to know more on the reasons for the “great retirement”- who’s affected, who’s been made unemployed and in what sectors, the reasons for becoming inactive - is it enforced or a desire - and is it a temporary blip.

But what this does demonstrate is the need for a debate about older workers to help frame the necessary support. Key is what bespoke training and support is required from government ensuring this addresses the older workers’ needs , which in turn requires a much better segmentation of older workers. And support needs to be properly targeted and appropriate - for example, not all older workers are digitally impoverished, and some skills can be recycled into new roles. This employment support provision will be better if it is designed with the insights that older workers can provide. And there’s also a much-needed debate with employers about the benefits of a multigenerational workforce with the diversity of experience, qualities and skills different age groups can bring to the workplace.

The appropriate agenda to meet the requirements of “Building back Better “ needs to be about flexible employment, how to plan for an older workforce, rather than accept what might just be a growing exodus of older workers.

Tim Whitaker is a consultant in strategic communications, policy and public affairs and writes about age and employment. He’s a Trustee of Wise Age a charity promoting training and support for workers over 50 in London and challenging ageism in employment and also Co-Lead of the Royal Society of Arts Good Work Guild group on “Promoting intergenerational dialogue around the future of work.”