Redundancy ‘is negatively affecting the over-50s’

Posted 22/09/2010

Redundancy could be having a serious and negative impact on workers over the age of 50, new research has suggested.

A survey carried out by Recruitment Genius discovered that 56 per cent of people in this age bracket have been made redundant at some point in their late career, double the figure seen for other age groups.

Furthermore, a quarter struggled to find re-employment after redundancy and were left without a job for 12 months or longer.

The Office for National Statistics recently stated that more than 22,000 permanent jobs were lost over the last financial quarter.

Chief executive of Recruitment Genius Geoff Newman told HR magazine over-50s may wish to seek part-time employment if they have been affected by redundancy, as there may be more vacancies available.

It was announced earlier this year that the default retirement age will be scrapped in October 2011 in a bid to beat age-related discrimination in the workplace.