Over-50s unemployed unlikely to get back to work, warns TUC

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has expressed concerns about older people being trapped in long-term unemployment.

With the next unemployment statistics due out tomorrow (Wednesday), the TUC said it will be looking closely at the figures.

Since the start of the recession, the number of workers aged 50 or over who have been unemployed for more than six months has risen steadily.

The TUC is concerned that older workers who lose their jobs are not finding new positions, and are failing to get back into the labour market.

In this month’s unemployment figures, the TUC has said it hopes to see a smaller rise than before in the number of older people out of work for more than a year, and a fall in the number of over 50-year-olds unemployed for more than six months.

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TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “People who have been unemployed for a long time have a much lower chance of finding work again.

“There is a real danger that the UK’s older working population is being left on the scrap-heap.”