Two recent reports highlight the growing importance of older workers in the labour market. Andrew Taylor writes in today's Financial Times that older workers take most new jobs:
More than half the [UK] jobs created in the past year were filled by people above the state pension age, according to official statistics. The rise in the number of working older people reflected increasing financial pressures created by pensions shortfalls and a growing willingness of employers to take on older staff, employers’ organisations said.
The employment rate for “pensionable” workers, men aged 65-plus and women aged 60-plus, ranged between 7.5 per cent and 8 per cent for most of the 1990s but rose to 10.4 per cent during the three months to the end of January, according to the Office for National Statistics.
...Sam Mercer, director of the Employers’ Forum on Age, said that employers faced with skills shortages were also more prepared to hire older people who were physically and mentally fitter than previous generations. Large supermarket chains, such as Tesco and J Sainsbury, in particular, had made an effort to employ older staff to reflect the balance of society at large and an ageing population that provided many of their customers, she said.
The number of people of pensionable age in employment rose to 1.13m during the three months to the end of February; up 85,000 on the corresponding period 12 months ago. That accounted for more than half the total rise of 147,000 in the number of people in employment. There was also a strong increase in employment among people aged between 50 and pension age, which rose by 57,000. ...By comparison, employment figures for younger people fell by 13 per cent for 16- and 17-year-olds and by 0.7 per cent for the 25-34 age group.
Meanwhile Elizabeth Olsen from the New York Times reported Tuesday on the growth of employment agencies aimed at seniors: In Demand: Employment Agencies for 50-Plus:
The demand is so great that employment services specializing in the over-50 age group are cropping up, and large agencies like Manpower Inc. and Kelly Services are finding that more older adults — born between 1946 and 1964 — are seeking temporary or permanent jobs.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16.2 percent of workers — more than 40 million people — were 55 or older in 2005, and the bureau expects that number to rise to 20 percent or more by 2015.
"Interest is growing because people are contacting me every week, even from abroad, to ask about setting up an agency like ours," said Susan M. Allan, executive director of Senior Employment Resources.
Recognizing that more retirees are looking for work, AARP has partnered with Manpower and Kelly Services to help place workers over 50. The association has a "featured employers" section on its Web site, aarp.org, to connect job seekers with national corporations.
Melanie Holmes, Manpower's vice president for corporate affairs, said that her company began focusing on older workers five years ago with its Reinvent Retirement program. "About 10 percent of our work force is 50 and over now, and we expect that number to keep growing," she said.
A decade ago, Kelly Services started a program for older adults. Jocelyn Lincoln, the director of product management for the company, said the agency places about 67,000 older workers yearly.
Also emerging are online services like Retireecareers.com and Seniorjobbank.org. As far as training, there are a limited number of programs. Experience Works, a nonprofit group, and the National Council on Aging, in conjunction with AARP, run job placement centers nationwide, and provide office skills training for low-income older workers.
But many older people looking for work do not need training, experts say. As the first wave of post-World War II babies turns 60 this year, the demand for jobs will only grow. And the majority of these people will have up-to-date skills because they have worked for all or most of their lives and never expected to retire.
A 2005 study by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University said that most baby boomers think traditional retirement is obsolete. The survey found that more than two-thirds of workers in that generation expected to work after the traditional retirement age; 15 percent anticipated starting their own business after retirement; and 13 percent expected to stop working entirely. The study reported that the number of workers saying they would never retire rose to 12 percent in 2005 from 7 percent in 2000.
These trends are certainly encouraging. But they don't mean older workers have an easy time of it. The quality of jobs available to seniors is far from ideal. As the FT story reported:
Patrick Grattan, chief executive of the Third Age Employment Network, said that there were still problems “with the poor quality and low rates of pay of some part-time and full-time jobs filled by older workers”.
And as last Sunday's BBC TV Panorama programme, Must have own teeth, clearly showed, age discrimination is still pervasive in Britain. the website has several accompanying pieces, including two on ageism research.
A very relevant post about a very relevant topic.
"These trends are certainly encouraging. But they don't mean older workers have an easy time of it. The quality of jobs available to seniors is far from ideal. As the FT story reported."
This is a very important aspect in my opinion and it is crucial to consider the narrative of the ageing worker. A necessary evil or a diverse enrichment to the workplace?
Posted by: claus vistesen | Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 08:40 PM