[16 NOV 98]
COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE
New Moves To Combat Age
DiscriminationA leading City Councillor has
welcomed new moves by the Government to stamp out discrimination against older people in
the workplace.
Cllr Tom White, Chair of the Older People Policy Team said:
"Many people in the 50+ age bracket fell they are discriminated against when they
apply for work. This is both unfair and short-sighted, since older workers have great deal
to offer in terms of skills and experience.
I am therefore delighted that the government has recognised this problem by issuing a
draft Code of Good Practice on Age Discrimination. My Policy Team will be studying this
with interest and I hope that all employers in the city will want to do so too."
NOTES
Employment minister Andrew Smith is launching the draft
Code of Good Practice on Age Discrimination on 16 November 1998.
Coventry is one of 28 pilot authorities taking part in the
Government’s "Better Government for Older people" initiative, which aims to
improve life for people over 50.
In Great Britain there are around 8 million people aged
between 50 and state pension age. Of these 5.63 million (68.6%), are economically active
i.e. they are either in employment or registered as unemployed. This compares to an
activity rate of 78.5% for all those of working age.
Older people tend to stay unemployed for longer. For
example, in October 1997 those aged between 55 and 59 spent an average of 44 weeks
unemployed as opposed to 23 weeks for all ages.
In July this year, a report in ‘Labour Market
Trends’ noted that "the age of 50 appeared to represent an important point at
which people found it more difficult to return to the labour force if they became
unemployed of left work for other reasons." The report showed that:
- One in twenty people over fifty felt they had been
discriminated against on grounds of age.
- Older workers are at least as flexible as their younger
counterparts in terms of the types of jobs, and the status of jobs they are looking for.
The Employers Forum on Age has estimated that ageism in
employment costs the UK economy £29bn a year.
Further Information:
Roger Hughes, Strategy Co-ordinator, Social Justice 01203 831090
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