According to new research, 92.8% of jobseekers aged over 50 feel the Government is ignoring the problem of over 50s unemployment. The survey of over 700 registered candidates by Skilled People Limited also shows respondents believe the problem of youth unemployment is being exaggerated and addressed at the expense of the over 50s who are being…

Drug consumption is high among the elderly for obvious reasons. The question, however, is, why is this group excluded from clinical drug trials? The EU-funded PREDICT (‘Increasing the participation of the elderly in clinical trials’) project is determined to find the answer, and a charter that opposes discrimination against the elderly in clinical trials is…

BIBA has welcomed a consultation paper from the Government Equalities Office that proposes ‘signposting’ of insurance products for older customers. Under the signposting proposal in the paper, an insurer that is unable to provide products to a person because of their age will be obliged to refer that person either to a company who can…

Abertay University has said it can now confirm the retirement of its principal Prof Bernard King. An announcement earlier this month was disputed by Prof King who said he did not accept he was stepping down. The 65-year-old has been suspended since January and had alleged discrimination on grounds of age. But the university said…

As with many aspects of life for working woman, getting a job after a certain age may be harder for women than it is for men. Looking at more than 40,000 job applications across a variety of industries, a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found “robust” evidence of age discrimination in hiring female…

The Office for National Statistics found there were a total of 1.56 million retired people under 65 during the three months between September and November, up 39,000 on the previous quarter. Campaigners and charities explained the rise, saying older people found themselves “first in line” when companies made redundancies during the economic downturn as they…

Sandra Rawline’s hair turned grey when she was in her early 20s. She stuck with it, proudly displaying her shoulder-length locks with their natural silver streaks. “This is who I am,” she said. But it seems that who she was, when it comes to grey hair in the workplace, was not satisfactory to her Texan…

Older workers are rarely treated kindly by recessions. They are traditionally more likely to get laid off, and once out of work they find it harder than younger people to get new jobs. But this time it’s been different. While it’s still harder for the over 55s, especially men, to re-enter employment, official labour force…

Negative stereotypes are hurtful to older people and may shorten their lives, according to psychologist Becca Levy, PhD, assistant professor of public health at Yale University. In Levy’s longitudinal study of 660 people 50 years and older, those with more positive self-perceptions of aging lived 7.5 years longer than those with negative self-perceptions of aging.…

For young people, the prospect of retiring seems absurdly far away and few give it a moment’s thought. Most are too busy spending their time thinking about getting a job, moving up the career ladder, buying a home, falling in love, planning holidays and starting a family. But reality finally strikes at the age of…