Don't forget the older unemployed

The sociologist Peter Worsley once said that when we meet people for the first time we often ask "what do you do?" when we really mean "what is your job"? After I was made redundant from my job in a large organisation following an unpleasant staff reorganisation, I was surprised at how defined I was by my work. A well-qualified professional woman in my 40s, I believed my skills were valuable and contributing something in the greater scheme of things. I did not think of myself as "old", and did not forsee any difficulties in my search for a new job which would let me use at least some of my talents. Of course I have other identities; I'm a mother, a wife, a friend, a relative. But my job was an important part of my personality and my identity. Work can offer many things: a sense of belonging, of being useful. It maintains our self-esteem, which is a component of good mental health. Commenting on the latest unemployment statistics, John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said that "a worrying feature of the latest figures is an indication that job prospects for the over-50s may have started to deteriorate for the first time since the start of the recession in 2008. The over-50s not only suffered a quarterly fall in employment but were also the only age group to register a rise in unemployment (up by 15,000)". Those statistics may also be skewed by the fact that some people are using redundancy payments or, like me, their savings to live off. For those of us who want or need to continue working, the future looks grim. David Woods wrote in HR magazine that unemployed people over 50 were being forced into retirement without help to find work, and although the government is taking steps to help young people back into jobs, it has not implemented any specific support for older workers. Yet, Acas states that there are three good reasons why employers should to focus on the issues of older people at work. First, the working population is getting older: there are a greater number of older workers to recruit and there are fewer younger workers. There are currently 20 million people aged 50 and over in the UK, a figure expected to reach 27 million by 2030. Second, people's increased life expectancy combined with shortfalls in pension provision means employees are retiring later. Finally, the Age Discrimination Act should protect employees against discrimination on the grounds of age: if employees of all ages are treated fairly and not according to their perceived "usefulness", the employer may very well find it easier to tackle skills shortage across the company. My experiences over the past few months have led me to believe that some employers do discriminate against older workers, despite any skills shortage. It may be that an older worker is too expensive, or that a younger person may be more malleable to the company ethos. Whatever the reason, the feeling of being rejected because of one's age can be crushing. I believe we should give employers enough material to rethink their stereotypical views of older workers. For example, now that my children are older I am not constrained by the demands of childcare, and my maternity leave days are long over. Employers may assume that older people are more likely to take sick leave, but Acas states that research has shown that the opposite is true. It might also be useful for older people, as well as young people, to have the opportunity to attend training schemes, ensuring that rusty skills are polished and ready for the next job application. As for me, I have about six weeks' work beginning this week covering someone who is on sick leave; at least I can breathe a small sigh of relief at the prospect of earning some money and claiming back a temporary identity. Christina Meredith is also known on Cif as commenter CordeliaM