Public First has published a new report with Phoenix Insights on ‘Beyond the Great Retirement: Understanding and tackling economic inactivity amongst the over 50s’. You can access the report here.

This research follows a previous briefing note on ‘What is driving the Great Retirement?’ which included an analysis of available datasets in the UK, Germany and the USA on labour force participation. As well as polling of over 3,000 adults over the age of 50 in the UK, Germany and USA, plus a booster sample of over 1,500 50-64 year olds who are not in the workforce.

Our Beyond the Great Retirement report outlines the following findings:

• Those with ill health, disability or with caring responsibilities are much more financially vulnerable.
• Those who own a home outright feel much more financially secure to retire early.
• Those with prolonged levels of lower average job satisfaction are more likely to have chosen to leave the workforce.
• Flexible work, support with new technologies and opportunities to work from home are favoured support strands in people in returning to work.

Our research also highlights six key approaches for government to respond:

• Take a regional approach – by enabling Combined Authorities and others working at a local level to tackle the specific drivers of economic inactivity in their region.
• Work with employers – by taking a sectoral approach that recognises the specific reasons people are leaving different industries
• Create more flexibility – by responding to the strong preferences over 50s show for being able to work more flexibly.
• Improve people’s quality of work – by focusing on the importance of job satisfaction for keeping people in work or encouraging them to return, especially for those who feel financially comfortable enough to retire.
• Improve the provision of financial and careers advice – by finding new ways to ensure this group have access to guidance about their personal financial security and their options for staying in or returning to work.
• Take a long term approach – by improving the experience of work for people below the 50-64 age group, recognising that the reasons people leave the workforce early are a product of issues, such as low job satisfaction or poor health, that develop over time.

The full polling tables can be found here.