ILC-UK response to new Labour Market Statistics

Responding to the new Labour Market Statistics out today, David Sinclair, Director of the International Longevity Centre – UK (ILC), said:

“The coronavirus has disproportionately impacted on the youngest and the oldest workers in our economy.

As of December, employment levels for those aged 16-24 and over 65 have fallen by 7% (343,000) compared to a 0.5% fall for those aged 25-64 (1).

Because of COVID-19, the long-term growth in employment of those aged over 50 stalled and is now reversing.

Government has introduced Kickstart to support younger people on Universal Credit back into work. We need a similar initiative to support older workers back into the workplace.

Older workers contribute to economic growth. Our economy needs to better use their skills and talents.

We know that age discrimination hits older people hard and that older workers who find themselves unemployed as a result of COVID-19 are likely to find it much more difficult than other ages to get themselves another job. Continuing high levels of redundancies announced in today’s statistics are likely to be having a significant impact on older workers.

The Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee needs to go beyond offering a Level 3 (A level equivalent) course to individuals who don’t have one and provide support for reskilling of adults of all ages.

Government must invest more to ensure that ill health and caring responsibilities don’t make it even more difficult for older people to re-enter the workforce.

Without further urgent support from Government, a huge number of people aged over 50 will find early retirement forced on them.”

1) https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8898/

 

Notes

For press queries, please contact press@ilcuk.org.uk or +44 (0)208 638 0832. Spokespeople are available for interview.

UK Labour Market statistics have been published today by the ONS: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8898/

ILC’s flagship report Health equals wealth highlights the economic opportunities of an ageing society (from workforce to consumers) across the G20, if countries adapt to the needs of an ageing population.

ILC’s Work for tomorrow programme, supported by the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources (IRC4HR), seeks to identify the challenges and innovations that respond to an ageing workforce through a global innovations competition:

ILC’s Delivering Prevention in an Ageing world programme seeks to encourage Government’s across the world to invest in preventative health and tackle inequalities in access to health.