A million over-50s being dumped on the scrapheap by ‘ageist’ employers

MORE than one million over-50s have been forced to stop working as employers continue to discriminate against older workers, a damning report claims.

Academics revealed that ‘older workers are being failed at every turn’ and find it harder to both ‘ keep their jobs and find suitable employment after job loss’.

In a report entitled The Missing Million, it claimed that ‘over a million older people have been pushed out of the labour market for reasons beyond their control and are now struggling to find employment’.

While many were pressured to retire early by their employer or made redundant, others were ‘pushed out’ through ill health or the need to care for family members, claims the report, compiled by the Prince of Wales’s charity Business In The Community.

Once out of work, many then found it near impossible to find a new job.

The authors of the report said there was a misconception that older workers are ‘just biding their time until retirement’. They said ‘older people who lose their job are just as likely as other age groups to look for another one’.

Almost half of unemployed people in their early fifties want to find a new job, the study showed, falling to a third for those in their late fifties.

The report stated: ‘Older people are not in a mad dash for retirement, eager to jump into economic inactivity at the earliest opportunity.

‘Continued adherence to agerelated stereotypes can blind many employers to the changes that have occurred in the structure of society and the modern labour market. And until myths around age in the workplace are tossed aside, older workers will continue to find themselves out of work and out of luck.’

When employees had to leave work to care for family, they found ‘ returning to work is impossible’ if their employers did not allow them the flexibility to act as an informal carer. This is at odds with the treatment of working parents, who are often allowed to go part-time or do flexible hours to fit around childcare.

Stephen Howard of Business In The Community said: ‘ The business case for supporting over-50s to stay in work has never been stronger.

‘However our research shows that despite this, older people are finding it tough, and where they do succeed it is because of their own networks and efforts.’

He urged every business to consider the ‘enormous’ benefit of hiring older workers with the ‘ambition, experience and skills’ they bring to the labour market.

Ros Altmann, the Government’s business champion for older workers, said: ‘ Businesses are way behind the times. People in their 50s and 60s are not “old”. But employers are still not taking them seriously.’

Minister for Pensions Steve Webb said: ‘Employers need to wake up to the huge potential and wealth of experience that older workers offer.

‘As a Government, we are taking action. We are extending the right to flexible working, we have tackled age discrimination by ending the default retirement age and we are increasing support for older workers and employers. This is the right thing to do as we work to create a fairer society and challenge outdated perceptions of older people shuffling off with a gold watch at retirement.’

‘Out of work and out of luck’