31% of people in the UK aged between 50-65 do not work

A report just published by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts titled, Welfare to work tackling the barriers to the employment of older people gives us this information.

Around 2.7 million people, aged between 50 and state pension age, do not work. This represents an inactivity rate of around 31% of the age group, which is higher than the overall average of 25% (for all ages).

Around 1.3 million (nearly half) of this number are on state incapacity benefits (See Figure at the end of this posting). There are significant regional variation in the number out of work, with a high proportion on incapacity benefits in the North East of England and Wales and relatively high proportion of those early retired in the South East of England. Nearly 13% of the working age population in the North East claim some form of sickness and incapacity benefit compared to levels of in the South East England of 5.4% and in London of 7%.

The bottom line conclusion for the marketer is that the gap between the wealthy 50-plus and those surviving on state support is massive as is the difference between different parts of the UK. Dick Stroud www.20plus30.com

50+ reasons for not working
Posted by Dick Stroud