Over-50s ‘trapped’ in long-term joblessness

Older workers are languishing on the dole after losing their jobs in the recession and not being able to find new ones, unions have warned.

The TUC is concerned about a “steady rise” in the number of people over 50 who are unemployed for more than six months, saying their skills and talents are going to waste.

The union organisation said it will be studying new jobless figures to be published on Wednesday for any sign that older workers are still “trapped” in long-term unemployment.

Last month the number of older people out of work for longer than six months increased by 3,000 to 229,000, while those out of work for more than a year jumped by 11,000 to 134,000.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Every job loss is a human tragedy, but when people are out of work for over a year they risk being permanently scarred by joblessness.

“Long spells out of work can increase the likelihood of mental health problems and relationship breakdown and devastate entire communities.”

He added: “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 scrapheap.

“Government investment has kept unemployment well below the levels reached in previous recessions, but there can be no room for complacency.

“The government should extend its job guarantee for young people to anyone out of work for 18 months to stop people getting mired in semi-permanent joblessness.”

Taken from Morning Star

Long-term unemployment has doubled, TUC says

The number of people on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) for more than a year has nearly doubled, the TUC has said.

Those claiming JSA for more than 12 months rose to 201,015 in November 2009, up from 103,930 in December 2008.

And 58 local authorities now have over 1,000 long-term claimants, compared with 19 last year.

The TUC is urging the government to extend its job guarantee for young people to everyone who has been unemployed for 18 months.

The TUC made the calculations using official claimant count data.

It wants to see the long-term unemployed entitled to a job paying at least the minimum wage for a minimum of six months.

Job Seeker’s Allowance currently stands at £50.95 a week for 16-24 year olds, and £64.30 a week for those aged 25 and over.

Damaging

The TUC is also calling for more help for those groups it says are at most risk of becoming the long-term unemployed.

These include people over 50, those who have spent a long time out of the labour market while caring for children or those with a history of unemployment.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber says long-term joblessness is damaging.

“Every job loss is a human tragedy, but when people are out of work for over a year they risk being permanently scarred by joblessness,” he said.

“The government should extend its job guarantee for young people to anyone out of work for 18 months to stop people getting mired in semi-permanent joblessness.”

In his recent pre-Budget report, Alistair Darling announced that the government was extending its guarantee of a job or training to all young people who had been unemployed for six months.

Previously only those under 24 years old who had been jobless for 12 months were eligible.

The chancellor said he hoped to raise £550m from a 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses to help ease unemployment.

In response to the TUC report, work and pensions minister Helen Goodman said long-term unemployment was an issue the government was trying to tackle.

“Action taken to help people back to work in the teeth of a deep global recession, backed by £5bn, has had a significant impact,” she said.

“At 12 months unemployment everyone gets intensive support through the government’s flagship flexible New Deal programme.”

Part-time workers

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell by 6,300 in November to 1.63 million, the first fall in claimants since February 2008.

However the number of people unemployed in the UK, using the government’s preferred measure, now stands at 2.49 million.

These figures show that the number of people jobless for more than a year increased by 49,000 in the latest quarter to 620,000, the highest since 1997.

The number of people who say they are working part-time because they cannot find a full-time position rose by 34,000 in the quarter and now stands at over 1 million.

Taken from BBC News