New research conducted by the Institute of Public Policy Research has found that approximately 100,000 people over the age of 50 will be forced to take early retirement, due to not being able to find employment.
Recent figures show that nearly 25% of people who have been without work for more than two years are in the over 50 age bracket.
Those who lost their jobs at the beginning of the recession and are still unemployed, will have to consider the fact that they may never find employment again and be forced to start drawing their pensions. Obviously, starting their pensions at a much younger age than intended would mean that their pension fund was considerably lower than they had wished for and many people will face a poverty-stricken retirement.
Past reports have found that unemployed people over 50 are ten times more likely to still be out of work after two years. More worrying is the statistic that for an older man, each year out of the workplace that shows it becomes 24.3% less likely to find work again.
The IPPR’s Chief Economist, Tony Dolphin, said: “Almost a quarter of those who have been unemployed for more than two years are over 50. The risk is that older people who have been out of work for this long stand little chance of ever working again. This means many will be forced into early retirement, which will mean a lower standard of living during their old age.”
Mr Dolphin worries that those who find themselves unemployed for long periods of time could well find themselves “shut out of the jobs market”, as they lose necessary work skills as well self-confidence when it comes to interviews.
The coalition is planning to introduce a welfare-to-work scheme to tackle the issue of long-term unemployment. The Employment Minister, Chris Grayling, said that ministers “have a plan for growth which will encourage businesses to expand and take on more workers.”
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