To wonder how people will find jobs in their late 60s?

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i was just thinking about pension ages, prompted by the Waspi thread and also fact that I spend a lot of time worrying about my own retirement.

i know the pension age has to rise but at the same time I think it will create even more inequality. There will be people with private pensions who can retire at 55 and then those who can’t - and are likely to struggle to stay employed until they can get the state pension - which is likely to be 70 soon.

i my professional job there is an expectation that people retire at around 55. There are no people in their 60s. When I look at people employed in retail, etc I also only see people in their early 60s maximum.

how is someone aged 65 supposed to find a new job?

if anything, I feel like there is more ageism now than ever before. Particularly in relation to older women.

It’s only on Mumsnet that I see lots of youngish people claiming that they won’t be able to work past 60 because their body will disintegrate.

Yep @Startinganew32 - I agree with you.

In real life, people just get on with it. I know loads of people working full-time in their fifties and sixties, often in pretty demanding roles too.

I'm also not sure how it's financially possible for so many people to work the same number of years as their retirement - surely it's just not going to be affordable long term?

It’s by occupational pension I’m claiming, not state pension. Which I paid I towhi,e working.

Taxpayers fund all occupational pensions in state jobs. What the employee contributes is a fraction of the cost to the state. Currently the uk has a £5 trillion liability for these gold plated pensions. So yes, we all pay.

To answer the question - hospitality and care home jobs are available. Nice little office jobs, not so much. My DH is still working at 71 but in his field experience and qualifications matter. He likes to keep his brain active. The only people we know who have retired before 60 have been teachers. Mostly they have inherited money too. So the people working for private companies stay in work longer. The state workers cost us more than salaries!

The pension age doesn’t ’need to rise’. We have a temporary demographic blip with a large elderly population. This population will die off by 2050 leaving very even demographics and an awful lot of money and property which will be released into the community.

With better planning we could have been ready for this but while we’re not we need to endure through the next quarter century while planning for a more even population spread in the future.

Presumably your voluntary early exit scheme had a sweetener in it. Not your fault the Civil Service is poorly run! But still sn extra cost to the tax payer.

I was made redundant in August at 61. As a marketing manager in high tech which is renown for wanting everyone to be in their 30s and 40s. I'd done well to last as long as I did.

I thought I would have an issue. I'm a single mum, still have a mortgage and a teenager to keep and I have never worked so hard to find another job. I applied for every local marketing job paying half my previous salary upwards. I was pleasantly surprised (lucky?) and found a comparable job on a comparable salary, but in a different sector within eight weeks.

Having said that, I work hard to stay fit. I run twice a week and practice martial arts which maintains my flexibility and energy levels. I haven't allowed myself to go grey. I keep my weight down.

So a mix of effort, up-to-date skills and luck. But for anyone doing a non-desk job, I think it would be much harder.

What profession are you in where your retirement age is still 55?

I’m a teacher and mine is 67-same as lots of other people I know.

B&Q are known for employing older shop workers. Our local Tesco is staffed by ladies in their 60s, and a friend of mine retired as a police officer and is now working for Sainsbury in his 60s.

So some stores are open to it.

I actually think I see more over50s in the workplace than under. Which can't be right so must be some sort of bias.

But I often look round somewhere and think where are the younger people in the wings to start running this

It's not true that they're not interested - I worked in retail for years and we had lots of people in their late fifties and sixties joining us.

However in experience of retail (and retail management), a lot of people think working in a shop is beneath them or just something to do out of necessity - and unfortunately that shows in the interview and in their application.

I remember applying for ASDA years ago and there were quite a few older people who clearly didn't have a clue about retail or what it entailed.

I'm mid 60s and work as a contractor in an industry where few permanent employees are over 55. My solution has been to contact at a level where there is always demand for skilled people (so as an individual contributor rather than as a manager) and and I've just signed up for a rolling 6m contract on what looks like a 2 year programme of work. For me, it is a good solution. I get paid what I did as a manager, I am always learning new things and, if I'm not enjoying a project, I don't need to renew.

I retired from teaching at 57 as health was declining. After retiring my health improved a lot. DH retired from fintech at 60. We have always been savers. We are managing on private pensions until we get state pensions at 67. I also look after a young adult with learning disabilities and get a small allowance for this but I spend a chunk of that on young person as he only has UC to live on. DH takes out another young adult with learning disabilities and autism one day a fortnight to cinema, cafe, walking our dogs helping him learn to cook etc. which gives his single Dad a little break. I think after 60 some people who have always done a physical job eh working in building sites do slow down and I hope employers accept they are doing their best but can't go as quickly or carry quite as many bricks any more.

A lot of COVID deaths skewed the statistics.

My SIL works in a supermarket. She's 76. She cut her hours down but then filled them up again working in a Charity shop. My BIL is in his mid 70s and still works driving a bus - he has a medical every year to make sure he's fit enough.

I was a teacher and started to get my TP at 60. I think many younger teachers have to work until 67 to get their TP though.

I would also add that my experience was that a lot of the people joining us in their fifties and sixties didn't like being managed - especially by younger people.

Of course it wasn't everyone - we had some great people applying and who stayed for a long time, but many just didn't like how restricted the environment was. I think many came from careers where they had a lot of freedom and could do what they want (to an extent) whereas retail is much more controlled and limited in many ways.

Ageism has always been there but what I worry about more is the increasing automation in workplaces, therefore squeezing out humans. Ten years ago or more it was easy to get a job in a supermarket, now not so much.

Admin roles aren’t as plentiful as they once were either, partly because of A.I. I think we should all be concerned about the adverse impact with A.I on jobs in general, particularly in an increasingly individualistic society.

Great. And totally irrelevant to getting paid employment

Myself and my peer friends who have or turning 66 this year and next.. have all more or less said we had had enough of working @ the age of 60.
We wanted to retire...enjoy more family time.. social time.. holidays .. just time at home decorating and doing household things... more time in the garden.
Sadly 6 of my school friends have passed away before they reached 66.
I think the retirement age should have been phased in yearly.. not just one big jump.
Some of us are more healthy and active ..but some unfortunately are not..
A few retired age 55 ( Police/ Prison officers etc).Those seem to be much more happier and enjoying life to the fullest.
I only have my state pension because no one advised or asked me to pay into any private pension... wasn't aware the pension age would be increased.. I wasn't entitled to anything from my ex husband .
We were left in the dark ..after working full time from the age of 16.
That's 50 years for bugger all.

100%.
I've posted another opinion..( I've just retired ..loads of my friends too) some want to find another job.. some don't.. but out of us all not one has been offered any employment.

Honestly though, is it sustainable for people to spend 50 years of their life completely economically inactive? Sorry to hear about your friends but the majority do not die in their 60s and many will live 30 years beyond that. Having enough of work when you are 60 is all well and good but who is expected to fund this?

I have know people in construction work to late 60- FIL 68 as bricklayer and his plaster mate into early 70s- they often worked for themselves and didn't do full week and employed younger men for the heavy lifting and had skills still in demand.

DH say many of his managers in HE manage to get on boards or pick up consulting work or manage p/t lecturing or text book writing. He recently took meeting with man in his 80s in science communication whip smart and very quick to pick up new ideas.

Also know admin, cleaning and retail for women well into late 60s.

Also know people like parents who ill health counted against them - part of their ill health was due to years of elder care - 4 DGP - they manage with inheritance from Dad parenst - his parenst born in poverty worked 3 jobs - GM worked full time GD did teaching then played in band in evening.

I think the issue will be not enough jobs for those age ranges but as house prices have spiraled more people having to cover rent or still substantial mortgages in their late 50s early 60s so cant manage with cut in wages or p/t hours. Also elder care - if people are working to 70 full time care like childcare and elder care gets harder for them to do hospital appointments mount up and are incredibly inflexible.

I have struggled to get jobs since I turned 50. At 70 I just have to hang on to my present role for dear life. Ageism is rife and largely swept under the proverbial carpet.

Well hopefully all the Tax l paid in those 50 years is funding it.

My DW is 70 and still works 25 hours a week in retail. Its not unusual, she gets her state pension but has no private pensions worth anything. It's needs must thing.