Baroness Greengross writes for ePolitix.com ahead of her question on the extension of the job guarantees available to young unemployed people to those aged over 50.


Although I believe the government has rightly concentrated its efforts on the young, we are approaching the tipping point of claimants entering long-term unemployment, and should ensure that the economy doesn't lose out on the skills and experience of an older generation. That is why I am calling on government to extend the job guarantee, currently available for unemployed 18-24 year-olds who have been in receipt of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) for nine months, to claimants aged 50+.

For many older workers a premature exit from the job market will effectively force them into early retirement, as employers are reluctant to take them on for what they see as a short period before retirement, but can easily be for five or ten years longer than many younger employees will remain in one job. Read more

The theory is absolutely lovely, darling but how does that work in practice?
Ask an unemployed 'over 50' jobseeker what he or she are being offered in the way of work. Ask them if it matches the quality of the job they had before becoming unemployed, or financially comparable. Put this in a questionaire and see which boxes get ticked.
When you get nearer 60, the chances are, if you get a chance, that you will be used as cheap labour.
A 60 year old unemployed craftsman fitter was offered a job for around £5.50 an hour working 3 shifts (life shortening) in unskilled employment. The person in the Job Center told him, he was now entitled to Pension Credits and also told him unofficially, that this was the better option.

So I took it!