Over-50s have abandoned the workforce – here’s how to bring them back

One of the consequences of the Covid pandemic was the “silver exodus” from work, where an estimated 300,000 people aged 50 and over retired early.

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, recently highlighted the issue in a speech, outlining a need to attract this group back into work. Workforce shortages are reflected in the low levels of unemployment that have emerged since Brexit and the pandemic. The over-50s are viewed as an important way in which this overall fall in available working age adults can be addressed.

However, it’s critical that we understand why so many people in the latter stages of their working lives left their jobs if they are to be persuaded to return. The Office for National Statistics carried out one of their deep dives into this phenomena in an attempt to unpick how and why this group left work in the numbers we’ve seen.

As with most issues, there isn’t one single factor that led to this mass resignation by the over-50s. For some, the pandemic brought about a rethink, in particular, of the balance between work and the rest of their lives. This assessment resulted in a decision to retire, if they could afford to, and start the next chapter. Included in this is the desire to have healthy years of retirement in which over-50s can be active and enjoy their time, instead of having to retire due to poor health.

Others weren’t so lucky. Retirement was effectively forced on them as they were made redundant during the pandemic, perhaps in favour of retaining a younger workforce. Others cited that they had to give up work to care for a family member full time, and were unable to balance work with the responsibility of looking after someone else. This is a situation that falls disproportionately on those aged 50 and over, as they care for ageing parents and loved ones who are living longer but often with multiple health problems.

The scale of this movement out of the workforce – particularly by those with the most experience in their respective roles – has unsurprisingly had an impact on the UK’s productivity. It is not just that there are a number of vacancies, but that those with critical experience are not able to pass valuable knowledge and insights onto the younger workers they leave behind. Unlike other countries such as Japan or India, we don’t culturally value age and experience in the same way, instead being more likely to view older people as a burden rather than an asset.

This perception is what the chancellor tried to tackle head on in his speech by encouraging employers to think about recruiting older people instead of writing them off. Too many employers still view those in their 50s as “past it” and too great a risk in terms of potential ill health, even though this is not supported by evidence.

The International Monetary Fund recently placed the UK as the worst performing economy out of all the G7 countries, behind even sanction-hit Russia. Although persuading the over-50s to return to work won’t reverse this, it would make a significant contribution to changing our collective fortunes.

We can all play a part in ensuring that workforce ageism is tackled by challenging the stereotypes we collectively hold regarding older workers. They are no more likely than their younger peers to go off sick, shirk work or be unproductive – in fact, quite the reverse. They have experience, energy and expertise. Some might say they’re the perfect workers.

Ian Hamilton is a senior lecturer in addiction and mental health at the University of York