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lmost half of individuals aged between 50 and 70 who left the workforce throughout the first 12 months of the pandemic ended up in relative poverty, based on the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
New IFS analysis, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, revealed 48% of individuals on this age bracket who stopped work in 2020–21 have been in relative poverty, despite the fact that general poverty charges declined that 12 months.
The report warns that older individuals who cease working usually by no means re-enter the workforce, that means this group could also be experiencing long-term poverty and better hardship amid the cost-of-living disaster.
Relative poverty refers to individuals residing in households with earnings beneath 60% of the median in any respective 12 months.
According to the analysis, many older individuals who left work within the first 12 months of the pandemic have needed to minimize their meals expenditure by round £60 per week.
They additionally struggled extra with their general well-being and have been much less prone to obtain a pension than those that had stopped working in earlier years.
The analysis, which has been launched forward of the forthcoming IFS annual report on residing requirements, poverty and inequality, suggests labour market disruptions and the early impacts of the pandemic could have “forced” many staff into early retirement.
Xiaowei Xu, a senior analysis economist at IFS and an creator of the analysis, stated: “It is often assumed that older people who left the workforce during the pandemic were wealthy individuals retiring in comfort.
“Our analysis shows that those who left in the first year of the pandemic experienced a sharp rise in poverty, despite overall poverty rates falling that year, and also suffered large falls in well-being.
“Some of this group might well be amenable to coming back into the workforce with the right opportunities, and there are signs that some are returning already.
“If the Government wants to get this group back to work, the success of policies to support older workers, such as the mid-life MOT, will be critical.”
