
Older workers two and a half times more likely to suffer long-term unemployment
Unemployed over 50s are two and a half times as likely as younger age groups to be out of...read more
The case for doing more to attract and retain older workers is clear so what can employers do about it?
The working population is rising while many sectors are struggling with skills shortages.
More than one in 10 workers across most industry groups are aged over 60, while more than one in five are over the age of 50.
In agriculture and real estate, over 40% of workers are aged over 50. Moreover, there are currently over 1.5 million workers over the age of 50 in health and social work and more than 1.2 million over 50 in both education and retail.
Many industries have a poor record on retaining older workers, seeing a large drop-off in the number of workers between the ages of 45–49 and 60–64. In particular, finance, public administration and ICT all see a drop of greater than 60% between the number of workers they employ in their late forties and in their late sixties.
Such falls suggest that these sectors are not doing enough to support older workers to work longer.
The case for action is clear, but what can employers do to boost retention and attract older workers?
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