We have to keep an eye on older staff

Nov 17 2008 By Kevin Rowan for The Journal

THE headline figures last week showing the number of unemployed workers in the North East topping 100,000 – a rate of 8% of the workforce and the highest rate in the country – was clearly very disturbing news, although not in the least bit unexpected.

This region is not unfamiliar with unemployment but this downturn in some ways feels worse because it follows a period where our economy has been performing better than it has for a while and better than other regions.

The current predictions show this may be a relatively shallow, relatively short, recession, with economic growth forecast as early as the mid- point of next year.

In that regard we must try to retain some optimism and will hopefully encourage employers to make every effort to retain staff, so they are in a position to capitalise from the upturn when it does come.

There are also, however, some often unseen consequences of the downturn.

Below the headline figures, the two groups who appear to be suffering most from job losses and redundanc- ies are younger workers, aged 18 to 24, and male workers over 50.

There’s never a good time to lose your job, but for workers over 50 this is particularly bad news.

Evidence and experience tells us that employers are unenthusiastic about offering new employment to older workers. They are also one of the groups least likely to engage in new training and development opportunities.

The North East already has a relatively low employment rate for older workers, with workers over 50 making up a very high proportion of economically inactive workers in the region.

As they are a group suffering disproportionately in this downturn, there will be an especially acute challenge in addressing the balance between the demographic trends
and the economic dynamics in the region.

While there clearly remains significant challenges in developing opportunities for younger workers, vital to enabling the region to grow its labour market and economy overall, ensuring enough older workers don’t become too remote from the world of work will be an increasingly critical challenge in the North East.