Government figures released today suggest that 1 in 6 people alive today, around 10 million, will live to the age of 100. Good news for those who make it of course but not so good for those who will be condemned to live in poverty.
The stats of course do not tell us how comfortable or easy people in retirement will be and with proposals to change the pensions system it will mean that those who retire will need to at least be in part time employment to survive.
The major difficulty with the theory that links retirement with continuing to work is the fact that there is huge prejudice by employers towards anyone who is either under 23 or over 50 with stats showing that it is 3 times harder for someone over 50 to get an interview never mind a job. So I have no idea how the government intends to encourage people to remain in employment if it is so hard for that group to get a job? How many of us know of reorganisations where the employer is so clear that anyone over a certain age has to be removed?
The unions have to do more on this subject as well and initiatives to deal with ageism and ageist attitudes need to be developed in line with other EOP policies. The reality is that if you are over 50 and you are out of a job because of redundancy then it will be very hard for you to find another job.
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