The Government should find way of incentivising firms to recruit older workers, says Stuart Morris. Two years of unemployment in his sixties made the IT professional feel invisible. After being laid off he applied for new jobs and got new technical certifications to add to his CV but he couldn’t find a job. The experience, he said, was terrifying. “I still had a lot to give but it’s like you have been erased and it gnaws at you day by day”. Eventually he decided his only realistic option was to accept a less high profile role at lower pay. “I was content to accept that my place in the hierarchy had moved, so I got myself back into a role,” he said. “It beats being invisible any day of the week, and that’s what the unemployed scenario feels like.” Calling for Government action to counter a problem exacerbated by an aging population he used a sports analogy: “If you look at any sports team, any championship winning team, it’s a blend – you can’t do it with just kids and you can’t do it with old people, it’s a blend”
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