Nearly twice as many older workers left the labour market because of sickness and ill-health than for retirement during the pandemic, a union has warned.
Analysis of ONS Labour Force Survey data by the TUC found that 97,000 workers aged between 50 and 65 had left the labour market due to sickness and ill-health between the three months to September 2019 and the same period in 2021. In comparison, just 50,000 left because they retired.
Overall, the number of people in this age group who dropped out of the labour market, meaning they were not looking for work, increased by 228,000 (1.5 percentage points) since the start of 2020.
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Commenting on the findings, Emma Twyning, director of communications and policy at the Centre for Ageing Better, said over-50s had been leaving the labour market at a “worrying rate” during the pandemic.
However, while many older workers outwardly attribute their decision to stop working to ill-health, Twyning said in reality they were leaving as “a result of an often ageist labour market, in which one in three workers say their age disadvantages them in applying for jobs”.
She urged employers to do more to provide opportunities and accommodate older employees by removing age bias from initial recruitment and offering flexible working.
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