Work beyond 65? Nice to work until then
At last the fallacy of allowing us to work until we are 70 or more has been exposed: many people can’t even find work until they are 60 or 65. We are developing a three-tier economy – those who can work beyond retirement age, those who don’t need to – and those forced to stop work before then.
The charity Age UK says the number of long-term jobless aged over 50 has risen by more than half in the past year. The 170,000 people in that group who have been without work for more than 12 months – three-quarters of them male – make up part of the hidden unemployed that explains why the headline jobless totals are not as high as expected after a recession.
The unemployment total for April-June 2010 show a 47,000 fall to 2.46m but that figure hides some who have extended training or education because they cannot find jobs, some who remain outside the data by working part-time – and some who have effectively taken early retirement.
That early retirement may not be voluntary, and it may not even be acknowledged by former workers who still hope to resume employment. But the chance of anyone over 50 – nevermind 60 - obtaining a similar job to the one they lose is low. Many will never work again, however willing they are.
This will be discovered by the thousands of government officials who are culled because of public spending cuts. With no experience outside the state sector, many will be unable to transfer to private-sector jobs.
To tell these people that the law allows them to work until they are 70 or more is thus a mockery when the opportunity to work before 65 is not there.
Part of the problem is the trend to younger management – an admirable phenomenon in terms of career development but one that leaves the middle-aged without prospects of finding positions comparable with those previously held.
But these people will live as long as those still able to work, so pension funds will have to stretch further, leaving this group with inadequate contributions – especially during the years when they would expect to build their entitlements – but longer periods over which the pension is taken. Many people who thought they were prudently building their finances for a normal retirement will thus face extended years of poor pensions.
A combination of the recession, social trends and the proposed legislation to cancel the default retirement age means Britain will have a three-tier population of those aged 50-plus. There will be those lucky enough to go on working until they do not need to, those with generous pension schemes that mean they do not need to work – and those who would like to (or need to) work but who have been jobless since long before retirement age.
