UK languishing in over-50s employment table

The UK has secured an undesirable mid-table place on a list of international countries who employ over-50s, reports peoplemanagement.co.uk.

According to a study by think tank the Resolution Foundation, cited by barchester.com, the UK came a disappointing 15th out of 34 nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) table. In order to catch up with the front runners, the UK's recruitment firms should be looking to employ an extra 1.5 million senior workers.

Despite 60 per cent of women and 72 per cent of men aged 50-64 in employment, marking the highest figures in recent years, the UK still has a significant amount of work to do in order to get their senior workers back in gainful employment and up the international table.

Director general of Age UK, Michelle Mitchell, believes that the government needs to do more in order to help over-50s back into work.

She states: "The fact that at least 15 other countries in the OECD have significantly higher rates of older people in jobs than the UK only underlines Britain's need to do more to help its citizens who are over 50 find work.

"This means stamping out age discrimination, adopting age-friendly recruitment policies or simply by allowing more flexible working," she added.