Member Article

The growing number of unemployed over 50s

It’slabour market focus week on Bdaily. Here, Nick Bunting, CEO of The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise, looks at the recent ONS labour market statistics, and the growing number of unemployed over 50s.

I wasn’t too surprised to read last week that employment was virtually unchanged from September to November 2012. What was more alarming, however, was the fact that there were 70,000 more unemployed people in the UK.

This is worrying news for the UK economy and a good indication that more needs to be done to encourage people back into work, as well as creating new jobs.

Looking at the headlines the following day, rising unemployment was the flavour du jour, especially how it was affecting young people and women. But where were the reports on how the older generations were faring?

If we take a closer look at the figures, there has been a healthy rise in the employment rate for the over 50s. There are around 8.6 million in this age group who are employed and this has steadily increased over the previous year by 3.8%.

Nonetheless, there are still more than 400,000 unemployed over 50s and this number is only going to rise considering that people are working and living for longer. It is lamentable that there are 787,000 unemployed 18 to 24 year-olds but if we take a look at the number of people claiming employment-related benefits, the picture looks somewhat positive for the younger generation and not so healthy for people over the age of 50.

There are currently around 410,000 18 to 24-year-olds claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), against 257,000 over 50s claiming JSA. But interestingly, there are close to 100,000 over 50s claiming JSA for more than 12 months, compared to 76,000 long-term young claimants. This shows that young people who start claiming JSA are more likely to get off this benefit within 12 months compared to
people over the age 50.

If we then combine the number of people claiming JSA with the number of people claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA), interestingly there are around 718,000 over 50s in total claiming ESA and JSA - nearly 150,000 more compared to the 18-24 age group.

It may seem that I have painted a somewhat bleak picture but at The Prince’s Initiative, we like to think that there is an alternative for mature people struggling in the job market and that is self-employment.

There are currently 4.2 million self-employed workers nationwide and this has increased by 367,000 in the last four years, making up 14% of the total workforce. Interestingly, it is older people who have made a significant contribution to the numbers, with 1.4m in the 50 to 64-year-old age bracket and 345,000 people who are 65 and above.

At The Prince’s Initiative we firmly believe that starting up a business is a viable route for people over the age of 50 to achieve sustainable and fulfilling employment. Mature people have the right skills and experience to make a success of setting up a business and we would like to see the Government and other key decision-makers encourage and support entrepreneurship among the over 50s, much like they have done with the younger generations.

For more from Labour Market Week, check out; Focus on STEM subjects will drive innovation; overcoming the UK skills gap; why recruiters need to search for the x-factor; recruitment among growing companies; Bdaily meets the labour market advisor; and Adzuna’s market perceptions.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by The Prince's Initiative for Mature Enterprise .