Getting over 50s back into work important for economy

I am excited by an idea to help the Over 50’s back into work which has been hatched by members of the Business Group of GFirstLEP-the county’s enterprise partnership.

In a nutshell, the aim of the idea is very simple:

-50 employers to offer 50 hours of work placement to 50 people aged  over 50.

-The aim is to sign up 50 employers over 50 days-one employer per day.

As an editor, over the years I had campaigned for firms to take on more apprentices, and 12 years ago, I launched a  similar challenge-the employment of 50 apprentices in 50 days.

It was very simple. Companies signed up and we repeated the challenge several times over two years due to the enthusiastic response from firms.

Since the beginning of Covid 19,we have seen a big increase in the number of people leaving the labour market and becoming “economically inactive”.

Vikki Walters of the county council who is on our Business Group and one of the architects of the idea, told me:

“Through our local work in the Employment and Skills Hub the main barriers identified for those aged 50+ looking for work included caring responsibilities; lack of qualifications/skills; isolation; mental health/anxiety; low confidence; lack of employment history; no transport; lack of digital skills and financial barriers.”

As well as Vikki, consultant Sarah Taylor Phillips of Career Voyage has helped to design our outline plan for the 50/50 challenge.

Sarah has written what I think is a brilliant exposition of the challenge: Top 5 Reasons Over 50’s Make the Best Employees.

Take a read of it online by going to her website.

I think the challenge of getting the over 50’s back into work is extremely important-not just for the Gloucestershire economy but for the individuals themselves.

And I am reminded by Jute Blackmon, the GFirstLEP analyst that the number of job vacancies in the county is rising rapidly.

Last December the job postings were 20,874 and the latest figures are around 24, 888.

That’s a big increase of over 4 000 job vacancies and means the challenge of the over 50’s is even more important to tackle.