Long Term Unemployment Crisis Looms for Older Workers.

Putting it Mildly: Quarter of a million over-50s ‘will never work again’.

Our contributors have been discussing plans to recruit an extra 13,500 Work Coaches.

Whether or not they are needed to sign claimants on, “coaching” people back into work is not going to be the major problem, Coachey!

It’s going to be a lot more than that.

Quarter of a million over-50s ‘will never work again’ after coronavirus

Telegraph.

A quarter of a million over-50s could fall permanently out of work after being made redundant during the coronavirus pandemic because job schemes and recruitment are skewed in favour of younger workers, a study has found.

One in four (2.5million) workers aged 50 and above has been furloughed and 377,000 of them could lose their jobs, according to a report seen exclusively by this newspaper. This is based on forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility, the fiscal watchdog, that 15pc of wor…

You cannot read any more unless you wish to pay the keeper at the gate of the Telegraph’s pay-wall.

If the Torygraph thought that was going to stop our Crack Reporting Team you can sod off….

The same story appears here,

A quarter of a million over 50 ‘will never work again’ after coronavirus

A major problem for older job seekers is that training and apprenticeship programmes tend to be geared towards younger people, the Centre for Ageing Better said.Andy Briggs, government czar of older workers and managing director of Phoenix Group, an insurer, said: “It’s also up to employers to crack down on unconscious bias. If a senior reveals their age on a resume, they are much less likely to get the job. ”

Older women, in particular, find it difficult to keep their jobs because many have to adapt their jobs to family responsibilities, he added. One in four women over 50 provides informal care for a loved one, compared to one in eight men the same age, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Women are likely to be the hardest hit. Nearly 40,000 women aged 50 to 64 have left the labour market since the start of the pandemic, as shown by the analysis of ONS data by job site Rest Less. At the same time, economic activity has increased in all other age groups of working-age women. For men aged 50 to 64, it increased by 3%.

Stuart Lewis of Rest Less said: “In the last recession, women could retire at age 60. Today he is 66 years old. Losing their jobs will force them to retire early, which many cannot afford.

Diving into savings and pensions will eat up funds quickly, especially when stock markets are down.

Since March, the number of women over 50 claiming universal credit has jumped 95%, compared to 92% among men in the same age group.

Which leads to some crafty leg work and,…….!

📢NEW REPORT 📢

A new report from Ageing Better and @LearnWorkUK shows that the number of older workers on unemployment benefits has doubled as a result of the pandemic.

More info below⬇️https://t.co/MM2IQ3gwfB

— Ageing Better (@Ageing_Better) August 9, 2020

A new report from Ageing Better and the Learning and Work Institute shows that the number of older workers on unemployment benefits has doubled as a result of the pandemic.

The new report from the Centre for Ageing Better and Learning and Work Institute shows that the number of older workers on unemployment related benefits has nearly doubled as a result of the pandemic – increasing from 304,000 in March to 588,000 in June.

There is a risk of a ‘second wave’ of job losses for older workers as the furlough scheme comes to an end in October. One in four older workers – 2.5 million in total – have been furloughed, and hundreds of thousands of these workers may be unable to return to their previous jobs as some sectors struggle to recover.

The report finds that older workers who lose their jobs are far more likely to slip into long-term worklessness. Just one in three (35%) over 50s who lose their job return to work quickly, compared to two in three (63%) workers aged 25-34. Over 50s who are unemployed are twice as likely to have been out of work for over a year than those aged 18 to 24.

A mid-life employment crisis: how COVID-19 will affect the job prospects of older people

Over 50s have been poorly served by previous employment support programmes. The Work Programme – which was introduced following the last recession – failed older claimants; just one in five (19%) adults in their late 50s found a lasting job, compared to two in five (38%) young people aged 18-24.

Many older workers interviewed as part of the new research explained how the crisis had left them pessimistic about their future employment prospects, uncertain about their next steps, and concerned about employers’ perceptions of older workers.

‘When you read that there’s 9 million people that have been furloughed and they’re saying that 1 million people are going to be made redundant. It is going to be very hard and you’re competing with younger people who understand the IT stuff a bit better. So, it’s not easy at my age anyhow.’

On the cusp of retirement, and soon to change this Blog, I can agree with the last sentence 100%.

This is what her NIbs is thinking:

Supporting workers and businesses of Britain to pull through and bounce back pic.twitter.com/c68XRaKk8l

— Therese Coffey #ProtectEachOtherSaveLives (@theresecoffey) August 7, 2020