Is business ready for an ageing nation?
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This is the question that is raised in an economic analysis of the ageing of society in the UK and in a far ranging discussion paper. Both are published by BIS (Department for Business Innovation and Skills) on its mini-website www.bis.gov.uk/ageingpopulation.
You can find the relevant discussion paper here (as a PDF download) and the analysis can be found here.
PRIME would like to highlight three things:
(i) The Discussion Paper invites your input by the 30th June 2010. This is your opportunity to say what you think is important.
(ii) For the first time a paper published by the government states that almost one person in three between the ages of fifty and state pension age is currently out of work. This needs to be emblazoned from the tree-tops to counter some of the knee-jerk media response to unemployment statistics.
(iii) Self-employment for the over 50s is featured as an important labour market response. Olderpreneurship is not seen as a rather quirky side issue, but an important part of the future economy.
(iv) Wow. Someone has been listening.
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April 6th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I would echo concerns about such programmes. I was sent to a Jobcentre Plus “New Deal” programme, only to discover I had to attend all day, every day, for several weeks. The facilities at the provider’s premises were poor and out of date and the antiquated IT systems’ set-up would not allow you to set up personalised, daily job search alerts in a way that I had already done from my broadband system at home. The sessions were mixed-ability, and for most of the day we were all left sitting in a room with little “training”, guidance, skills development, access to job opportunities etc, but were left fending for ourselves. It had the atmosphere of the school common room, where we got to bunk off because there was literally nothing to do, and no-one seemed to care - or not at a level where there was any attempt at a real effort to help individuals into work.
But it also felt like imprisionment and punishment, and was in fact holding me back because I was taken away from access to the facilities I had sorted out for myself at home. Most of us on the programme found we were sat around all day, then the real job-hunting started once we had got home again. I managed to negotiate a better arrangement because I could provide evidence of diligent job search, but not everyone is as articulate - or as stroppy, perhaps - as me, to get themselves a better deal. I “escaped” into a temp job - but it proved more “temp” than I had been led to believe, so I’m signing on again, back to square one.
I can’t help but feel that people like me, and the younger people who have fewer attributes in terms of education and experience, are indeed “parked” to keep us out of the way, off the streets, and out of the unemployment statistics. I don’t believe the Government when it says “unemployment is not as bad as we had feared” - oh yes it is, it’s just that it’s disguised. The Government/DWP - or the Commons Committee should do spot checks on these providers and do exit surveys with the attendees to find out what’s really going on. I don’t entirely blame the providers because I suspect they have been given too little funding to do the job that’s necessary, and I think there is an ostrich mentality in Government - “let’s force people into courses to make us look good - and punish people with sanctions/loss of benefits if they don’t comply - and use that as a substitute for real jobs policy and strategy because we don’t really know what to do”.
Much of the effort of policy goes into securing work for young people. OK, that’s fair enough so that those out of school, college or university don’t end up in a long-term habit of joblessness. But it’s the experienced ones who have probably got more chance of helping with wealth creation and economic growth than those who are new to work and need more training.
I am in my early 50s, with 2 degrees and experience from a variety of sectors, but lost my job when my government body shut down in 2007 (sometimes public bodies DO shut), and I was ill for about 3 months. I have had only one short-term contract in the interim. I am eminently job-ready, but my experience seems to count for little, especially in the private sector. How can society afford to waste all the experience, skills and education that the over 50s unemployed represent?
Sorry if this rambles and is a bit of a rant, but I am self-supporting, desperate to get work because benefits won’t keep the wolf from the door - and besides, I have too much to offer to be on the dole. Hope it’s useful nonetheless.
Regards
Glenys Wolstenholme