Britain’s workforce will struggle to recover from older workers and early retirees giving up their roles during the pandemic, the Bank of England have warned.
Increasing numbers of Baby Boomers – those considered between 58 and 76 years of age – have reached retirement age in recent years, while middle-aged workers also quit in droves during Covid-19.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has spoken of his hope to coax over-50s off the golf course and back into work in recent weeks. But bank officials have cast doubt over the government’s ability to overcome the ‘increasing detachment’ felt by those who have given up on work since 2020.
Torsten Bell, the head of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said the dire economic outlook would plunge Britain into a state of ‘perma-stagnation’.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the economist waned that the UK risked ‘a prolongued and far deeper living standards downturn.’
The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said last night that the declining workforce was down to an ageing population, with the pandemic simply facilitating the conditions for people to retire.
‘The population is ageing, that would have happened irrespective of Covid,’ he said.
More than half a million people have left the workforce since the start of the pandemic despite rising financial concerns for households.
The Bank’s Policy Report added: ‘Many of the people who left the labour force since the start of the pandemic were aged 50 to 64. This suggests that early retirement could be playing a significant role.
