Who are all these ‘economically inactive’ 50 year olds

[Orangetapemeasure]

The government is trying to encourage 300000 or so ‘economically inactive’ 50+ year olds back to work. Who are these people and what do they do?
I can imagine some people in their 60s deciding to retire early, but I don’t know a single 50 year old who has or could afford to give up work. In fact I know several previously SAHM who are only launching their careers in their mid 40s. I’m mid 40s with a good 15-20 years left to work.
MN please enlighten me.

@Thesharkradar You are so right, I was CEV and took Cummings going to Durham to have his eyes tested very hard, who knew that that was only the tip of the iceberg.

So NO I am not going back to work, ever.

Tip of the iceberg❄️ @DoorstoManual ???

No no, Boris Johnson was heavily involved so I think you mean fatberg☝🏻🤣

God imagine waking up next to that. 😱

Yes I do. But all the heavy lifting and wife work I've done in the last 20 years doesn't seem to count for anything because I wasn't paid nor paid tax yet it allowed my partner to give 110% in his job. We are a team. We have been lucky. We both worked in professional positions when we met in our 30s and both had our own properties with a small mortgage. This meant when we bought together we could pay a massive deposit and subsequently were able to pay our mortgage off relatively quickly. I get most of my clothes in charity shops, am pretty frugal and shop in Aldi/Lidl.
My husband is hoping to retire soon or at least cut his hours back significantly. Why would I consider going back to work to pay tax when I don't need to? Yes I'm damn lucky but that doesn't mean I'm not empathetic to the plight some folk are in having to work all hours to make ends meet. But that's not a problem of my making nor can I fix it. That's a Tory government who sold off all the council housing stock without replacing it, creating wealth among folk at point of sale and fucking up everyone who came afterwards.

As one of those coming after I agree.

I guess I sort of fall into this category.
I’m 53 and was a primary school teacher but I massively fell out of love with working in a school so I now work from home as a tutor, 7 hours a week.
I am extremely lucky that DH earns well.
If I had to I would go back to mainstream teaching but it barely resembles anything like it used to and, for me, not something I want to be part of.

My Dh and I retired a year ago me from the nhs at 55 and him civil service 58 . My Dad died suddenly at 59 - this has been one of my influences .
I volunteer one day in a charity shop , I might return to paid work ( not nhs though) but right now I don't want or need to. We've got a vague plan of buying a camper van next year and exploring the Uk .

This age group are just the latest the government is targeting to avoid the fucking elephant in the room that is Brexit and their hard nosed stance against asylum seekers

Prescisely that!!! Instead of battling (at ridiculous cost to the tax payer) to send refugees to Rwanda - why not give them permission to stay in the UK and work for a living? Because - hey - we have a large shortfall of workers.

I read this quote in the paper yesterday, sums it up perfectly:

“The government’s plans for parents very much say that your primary contribution in society is to undertake paid work – and if you’re not doing that, you’re a lesser citizen. It really undervalues how important unpaid care is to human flourishing, and the relational values of love involved in care.”

Many people can only retire early because they are relying on free NHS healthcare in old age, have vast amount of equity in their houses and a solid pension. If they had to fork out thousands in health care costs each year like many need to do in other countries in old age, they wouldn’t be able to retire so early.

If the NHS is privatised tomorrow and everyone needs to pay for private health care which will be more expensive for those who are obese, smoke or who are elderly, or have pre-existing health conditions, what happens then?

I can see how it is frustrating for the younger generation who cannot buy houses etc and pretty much know there will be no NHS for them when they are old, nor generous pensions/an pension either.

However, I have no idea what the answer is. We have an ageing population and a structural anomaly because those of older generations had it better than the young, because ultimately the Western society model of world dominance is simultaneously somewhat crumbling too.

Anyway, I am happy for anyone in their 50s who is lucky enough to retire and enjoy life! Life is too short and most would take then opportunity if they could.

So spending our hard earned retirement money in local businesses and taking unpaid carer roles for family now count for nothing?
Dh and I retire next year at 62. I have a lot of NHS friends who retired at 55. Truth be told this is my last year as a nurse and my body can't take too much more and I only do 24 hours a week.

It really undervalues how important unpaid care is to human flourishing
they cant risk acknowledging the true value of this work, because then those who do it would want to be paid or in some way compensated according to thier true worth.
That would mean less of the spoils for the already wealthy, ie thier friends & donors...

God, their press machine is relentless...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/03/27/early-retirement-has-forced-inflation-says-andrew-bailey/

The answer is still, No can do, Andrew. 🙄

Bank of England Governor warns that the shrinking workforce has pushed prices and interest rates higher

Not the rising energy prices and price cap then? Just us selfish oldies.

2 words for the BOE Governor and one of them is "off"

interest rates higher
fab, all that money I've stashed in ISAs will earn me enough interest to live on😁

Oh look, another thing that's the fault of the 'ageing population.'

I thought of this exact thread when I read that article earlier

I’m going to retire in my 50s. My dad died at 60 before he had a chance to relax. That is not going to happen to me.

I also read that article. Are they seriously thinking that we're all sat around thinking best forget our carefully laid plans and not retire early or must return to work the economy needs us?
Let's work until we drop dead instead.
I'm doing my last shift soon and we're definitely not hoarding our money, we have five+ holidays booked, lots of weekends away, spa days, festivals and just bought new motorcycles with cash those will hopefully keep someone in a job that actually needs the money. That's our contribution, that'll have to do.

I've been thinking about this lately and I wonder if people in their 50s are burned out. Careers have changed a lot, life has changed a lot since the internet, expectations, especially on women, have been so high. People have been burned out by work, is my guess.

MP demand vast sums for their time, but expect the rest of us to work for a pittance, out of which there is barely any money left when housing costs have been paid, thanks to govt failure to properly regulate the housing market
Go out and dig up spuds your fecking self Bailey😡

tbh, workforce shortage is probably the only thing making CoL crisis tolerable. Almost everyone who wants a job can get one.

Not always.
In our case we always intended retiring at 60 but a combination of things has meant we could bring that date forwards 3-years and we took it.
Didn't hate my job and was very good at it but like most people, if there was no need to work I wasn't going to do it when I could be out there enjoying an extra few years of "us-time".

I was one. Made redundant at 57 and thought "stuff it". Redundancy money paid off remaining mortgage and pension was enough to live on without hollidays. Haven't worked since and have no plans to do so.

This made me laugh. Quelle tosser.

A few things have made me think about the continued attention to the "economically inactive" over 50s:

1. They never say what jobs they'd like to see the workshy lazybones do. Though I can guess.
2. I've read of proposals to ease such re-entry to the workforce, e.g. tax breaks, which would piss off those 50+ who have not retired, but not yet seen the whites of their eyes.
3. When will this turn from possible carrots into actual sticks?