Supporting Older Workers to Plan, Progress and Prosper in the Labour Market

How we can better support the skills of older workers given a recruitment and retention crisis and a rapidly aging workforce.

In the UK we are living through a recruitment and retention crisis where over 900,000 pre-retirement workers have left the labour market during the Pandemic. Like many countries in Europe we are also currently facing a demographic crisis, with a shrinking workforce coupled with increased demands for social services. The labour force in Europe is projected to decrease by an average of two million every year between 2010 and 2030. This represents a loss of 1% of its current size per year for 20 years. Many workers retire early, not because they want to, but because they feel compelled to (or) that they do not have other options.

Solutions need to be found to make work more sustainable, and to extend working lives to avoid old-age poverty and to reduce state expenditure on pensions and welfare.

Recent OECD research has highlighted that there are many millions of adults in Europe with low levels of functional literacy and/or numeracy skills and that the majority of these are in employment. This has negative implications for their employment potential and longer-term career prospects.

An Innovative European Project led by the TUC has explored the concept of the Mid Life Skills Review (MLSR). This is gaining favour in many countries and the role of social partners in both lobbying for and delivering elements of this is one that could be critical to its success.

Employers will need to improve how they attract, manage and develop people as they age. This is particularly the case against a backdrop of technological change, the Pandemic, rising digital skills needs and labour shortages.

Join us to hear the latest thoughts from our panel of experts on how we need to help older workers to plan, progress and prosper in the labour market. We will also explore how the successful Value My Skills offer from the TUC has been significantly improved and expanded.

Speakers include:

• Alison McGovern – Shadow Minister for Employment
• Naomi Clayton – Deputy Director of Research & Development, Learning and Work Institute
• Kevin Rowan – Head of Organisation, Services and Skills, TUC
• Teresa Donegan – Head of Learning and Organising Services, UNISON

Admission to the event is free, though places are limited and we are recommending that people reserve their spaces early.