This in response to a Guardian article.The ageism which is rampant in the UK contains many myths unfortunately some of them repeated by Polly. Firstly 72% of over 50s up to state pension age are in employment , while 1.2 million pensioners work, mainly part time on low pay. There are more 50+ in long term unemployment with over a million nit registered with DWP but desperate for work, mainly because so many are on or near the poverty line with over half of pensioners receiving less than £12500 per year and a million single women penioners in or near poverty. The problem is not getting older people back to work it is the institutional ageism of most employers in all sectors and the recruitment industry
Active pensioners make up the majority of volunteers and over half of all carers are women aged 50 - 65.
There are 3 generations of seniors, working age 50+, active pensioners and much smaller number of frail elderly.
Lets celebrate the benefits that age diversity brings to work, and the benefits to all of an age friendly world and stop treating older people as a burden. We at www.wiseage.org.uk have been fighting these negative ageist myths for over a decade, shame that some of them are repeated in the Guardian