(qlmbusinessnews.com via news.sky.com- – Mon, 6 Feb, 2017) London, Uk – –
A Government-backed older workers champion says employees aged 50-69 are needed as the UK labour market faces a shortfall.
Employers have been urged to hire a million more older workers over the next five years to help plug the skills gap and combat age bias.
Andy Briggs, the Government's business champion for older workers, has called for the employment rate for people aged 50-69 to rise from 59% to 66% by 2022.
Britain faces a shortfall of new workers over that period, with 14.5 million jobs created but only seven million younger people entering the workforce.
Mr Briggs, who is chief executive of Aviva UK Life, said putting a million more older people in work by 2022 was an “ambitious yet necessary target”.
“There are 15 million people of this age group in the labour market, yet only nine million are in work,” he said. “We want to get this to 10 million by 2022.”
The UK employment rate at age 50 is 83%, dropping to 64% at age 60.
Mr Briggs said older workers could be “written off” but employers should consider the “overwhelming benefits of having a diverse and representative workforce”.
He added: “We live in an ageing society so it is critical that people are able to work for as long as they need and want to.
“Many people aged over 50 want to continue to develop their careers, learn new skills, try new things and also share their broad knowledge and experience.
“This is good for everyone, and particularly for employers and their businesses who will benefit from drawing on the talent, creativity and experience of all their employees, regardless of age.”
Mr Briggs works with the Business in the Community group to help businesses retain, retrain and recruit older workers.
The Government announced a new strategy last week aimed at increasing the number of older workers.
