Older workers 'face wall of ageism'

Monday July 26th 2010

A national charity has warned that the Government's plans to reform benefits will lead to older workers facing an "invisible wall of ageism".

Age UK said the plan to move those on incapacity benefit to employment support allowance would mean older workers would be stuck in long-term unemployment.

The charity said the Government's plan could lead to three-quarters of a million older people having to return to the labour market in the next four years,

And it added that ageism is one of the main barriers facing older people in their job search.

The importance of having good income protection insurance was highlighted by figures that showed two in five unemployed over 50-year-olds have been jobless for more than 12 months.

Michelle Mitchell, Age UK charity director, said: "The spreading perception of ageism in recruitment shows that, for older workers, the job market is still not fit for purpose.

"As more mature workers are pushed into the recruitment arena by the reassessment of welfare-to-work benefits, hundreds of thousands of them will risk coming up against the invisible wall of ageism.

Copyright © Press Association 2010

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