Aussies unemployable after 50
An astounding 73% of Aussies believe that by the age of 50 finding new employment is almost impossible according to a recent survey of over 2000 people conducted by leading career building and networking site Linkme.com.au.
Mature workers (41-55) have an even grimmer perception of their own situation with a massive 82% believing that finding employment after 50 is near impossible. 51% of boomers believe it is almost impossible to get a job after the age of 45.
CEO of Linkme.com.au, Campbell Sallabank says: “Considering that economic growth for Australia is greatly dependant on mature age workers staying in the workforce for as long as possible, these statistics are staggering.
“Workers in the mature age group currently make up one third of the Australian workers compared with one quarter two decades ago and have a lower unemployment rate than the combined workforce.
“The increased uptake of tertiary study and gap years mean that people are entering the work force later. Combine this with the general ageing of our population and Australia will see an inevitable increase in mature workers in the future. Even over the past two decades the average age of the Australian worker has moved from 35 years to 39 years.
“I can see how a grim perception of being unemployable at this age might come about. Mature workers often have skills and experience gained through many years in the work force and therefore are generally seeking higher end jobs which tend to be harder to find.”
