Older workers with health conditions disproportionately sidelined from work because of ageism

The Centre for Ageing Better is calling for an end to the current age-neutral approaches to employment support that have largely not worked, and have instead stoked imbalance and unfairness.

Millions of older workers with health conditions face years of financial uncertainty before retirement because of a substantial drop in employment rates as they enter the final third of their working lives, the Centre for Ageing Better is warning in a new evidence review.

Widely-held ageist assumptions underestimating the value and capacity of older workers, difficulties accessing reasonable adjustments to stay in work and less effective employment support for older age groups means many are ending working lives long before they are ready to, the new review details.

The new health and work review by the Centre for Ageing Better reveals a substantial health-related employment gap that widens with age. Fewer than three in five (57%) people aged 50-65 who have a long-standing health condition are in employment, compared to almost three in four (73%) aged 35-49.

This means that people with a long-term health condition are 60% more likely to be out of work if they are over 50.

The review also finds that people with a long-term health condition after 50 are much less likely to be in work than younger age groups despite there being little to no difference by age in the proportions of people who consider their health condition “work-limiting”.

The UK has a 50% higher rate of economic inactivity due to illness among people both aged 50-64 and who want to work compared to Germany, and also fares poorly in comparison with France and Italy.

Closing this gap would see around 192,000 additional older workers in the labour market, yielding approximately £13 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) a year and £2.5 billion in additional income tax and national insurance revenues, details the new analysis from the Centre for Ageing Better.

The Centre for Ageing Better review calls for a more age-positive approach to the labour market, replacing the current age-neutral approaches that have largely not worked, and have instead stoked imbalance and unfairness.   

Read the article in full HERE.

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Why the over 50s are key to solving the health and work dilemma October 2024