Government adviser and pensions expert,Ros Altmann,has been given the brief to see what can be done to boost the number of older workers. She is suggesting the over 60s should be helped to retrain so that they can stay in the labour market. In a recent interview with The Times newspaper, she said one of the key employment issues for those in their sixties was lack of IT skills,and there should be an IT national training scheme open to pensioners. Over the next few years,there are expected to be significantly fewer younger people, 16 to 49,whereas those between the age of 50 and the state pension age are likely to surge by around 3.7 million. According to the August report from age.uk, over one-third of the population are over 50 years of age.Also, two-thirds of those aged between 65 and 74 still do not have broadband at home.These are many other figures which may be of particular interest on a wide number of areas including employment, relating to older people in the UK The benefits to the UK economy are clear and those able to take advantage of the opportunity of acquiring new work skills should benefit from a continuing sense of usefulness and social connectivity.Ms Altmann believes that this initiative could literally save lives by improving the wellness of groups of older people who could otherwise suffer from a lack ‘of sense of purpose’.
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