How do we get over-50s back into work?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The government wants hundreds of thousands of over 50s to return the workforce as Britain mounts an economic recovery. More than half million people in that age bracket have left work since 2019. Will the promise of a 'midlife MOT' encourage people to come back to work? And do employers want them?
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are:
Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation Mike Crowhurst, Director at Public First Tony Wilson, Director Institute for Employment Studies Bee Boileau, a research economist in the retirement, saving and ageing sector at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, James Kirkup, Director of the Social Market Foundation
Producers: Kirsteen Knight, Daniel Gordon and Ben Carter Production Coordinators: Siobhan Reed and Sophie Hill Sound mix: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | I'm David Ronevich, welcome to the briefing room. |
| 0:10.8 | You, me, top experts, plus 28 minutes equals enlightenment on a big subject. |
| 0:17.5 | Today, the economy is stalling. |
| 0:20.1 | One reason is labour shortages, and one reason for labour shortages is the over-50s dropping out of work. |
| 0:27.4 | What can be done to entice them back into the workforce? |
| 0:35.7 | Earlier this week, the IMF warned that the UK will be the weakest G7 economy this year. |
| 0:42.2 | And one of the reasons given was the labour shortage here. |
| 0:45.8 | And a large part of that seems to have been caused by over 50s who left the workforce during the pandemic and haven't returned. |
| 0:53.8 | So why haven't older workers come back |
| 0:56.8 | and what can be done to change their minds? Step inside the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:09.7 | First, let's look at the scale of the problem. |
| 1:12.9 | Joining me in the briefing room is Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation. |
| 1:18.2 | Torsten Bell, if we look at the over-50s workforce now compared to the pre-pandemic period, |
| 1:23.6 | what do the numbers show? |
| 1:25.4 | Well, the number will tell us that we've got fewer people working than we expected to happen, |
| 1:30.2 | that we had before the pandemic. |
| 1:31.6 | We're talking about around a million people fewer, 900,000 fewer people working, |
| 1:37.7 | more people who are economically inactive. |
| 1:40.4 | And that can basically be thought as a third, a third, a third. |
| 1:43.2 | So a third of those are the under third. So a third of those are |
| 1:44.5 | the under 50s, a third of those are 50 to 65 and a third of those are over 65 and it probably |
... |
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