Skip to main content
The Actuary: The magazine of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries - return to the homepage Logo of The Actuary website
  • Search
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit The Actuary Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries Logo of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

Main navigation

  • News
  • Features
    • General Features
    • Interviews
    • Students
    • Opinion
  • Topics
  • Knowledge
    • Business Skills
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Predictions by The Actuary
    • Whitepapers
    • Moody's - Climate Risk Insurers series
    • Webinars
    • Podcasts
  • Jobs
  • IFoA
    • CEO Comment
    • IFoA News
    • People & Social News
    • President Comment
  • Archive
Quick links:
  • Home
  • The Actuary Issues
  • April 2013
04

Businesses should tap into older workforce, says Webb

Open-access content Wednesday 17th April 2013 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

Pensions minister Steve Webb has urged employers to take advantage of the ‘vital and untapped’ potential older people could bring to the workforce.

2

There are expected to be 13.5 million job vacancies created over the next decade, but only seven million young people are expected to leave school and college over that time to fill those posts.

Webb this week said older people could fill this shortage and also give firms a competitive advantage. 'Older people are the main untapped source of labour in this country,' he said on Monday.

'Britain is in a global economic race and we're moving towards a landscape where there will be a set of jobs that employers cannot fill with anyone but experienced older workers. A firm that doesn't make use of the talent pool on offer amongst the over 50s will be left behind.'

Over 50s form 27% of the current workforce but this is expected to increase to a third by 2020 as fewer younger people join the world of work and people live and keep fit for longer. According to Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development figures, half of workers aged over 55 are proposing to work past the state pension age, while the default retirement age was abolished in 2011.

Despite this, the over-50s are still the least likely age group to be recruited, the Department for Work and Pensions said.

Webb explained: 'We're certainly not suggesting older workers take jobs away from younger people, nor that people should be continuing working into their 70s.

'Instead, we're saying it's time businesses allow people to fulfil their professional potentials and that employers heed to the competitive edge older workers bring to their businesses.'

Among the suggestions the government made this week in a new guide on employing older workers is offering apprenticeships and work experience placements to people of all ages.

Analysis published today by economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies directly attributes the increasing employment rate among older women to the raising of the state pension age for women, This began in 2010 and will continue until it reaches parity with men at 65 in 2018.

The proportion of 60- to 64-year-old women in work rose from 25.6% in 2000 to 34.1% in 2010 but then increased by a further 2.2%, to 36.3%, in less than three years. According to the IFS, 85% of this increase can be attributed to the hike in women's state pension age.

 

This article appeared in our April 2013 issue of The Actuary.
Click here to view this issue
Filed in
04
Topics
Pensions

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

New Fast-Growing Team - Actuarial Systems Development

London (Greater)
Excellent Salary Package
Reference
143762

Actuarial Pension Consultant – Scotland/Remote – Up to £90,000 plus bonus

Edinburgh / Glasgow / Remote working
Up to £90,000 + Bonus
Reference
143761

Part Qualified Pensions Actuary– Specialised Pensions Consultancy - Scotland/Remote - Up to £70,000

Edinburgh / Glasgow / Remote working
Up to £70,000 + Bonus
Reference
143760
See all jobs »
 
 

Today's top reads

 
 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to The Actuary

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
Spread-iPad-slantB-june.png

Topics

  • Data Science
  • Investment
  • Risk & ERM
  • Pensions
  • Environment
  • Soft skills
  • General Insurance
  • Regulation Standards
  • Health care
  • Technology
  • Reinsurance
  • Global
  • Life insurance
​
FOLLOW US
The Actuary on LinkedIn
@TheActuaryMag on Twitter
Facebook: The Actuary Magazine
CONTACT US
The Actuary
Tel: (+44) 020 7880 6200
​

IFoA

About IFoA
Become an actuary
IFoA Events
About membership

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to The Actuary Magazine
Contribute

The Actuary Jobs

Actuarial job search
Pensions jobs
General insurance jobs
Solvency II jobs

© 2023 The Actuary. The Actuary is published on behalf of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries by Redactive Publishing Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ