Reuters Article: Fashion – Enter Ltd Discusses the Need for Older and Experienced Workers

Published on the 9th March 2023 and compiled by David Milliken, the Reuters article titled ‘Britain’s early retired resist calls to work, despite higher living costs’ discusses the economic need for retirees to leave the golf course and re-enter the world of work to help boost the UK’s coffers.

The article reviews both sides of the story with retirees saying they are happy to remain out of the workforce, while employers state that they are experiencing a serious skilled worker shortage. According to the article, Britain is the only one of the world’s seven largest advanced economies to still be smaller than it was before the pandemic, and economists see a link to the smaller workforce.

Talking to Fashion-Enter’s CEO Jenny Holloway about the issue she said: “Older workers are the ones that have got the skills – we don’t find young people with the skills that we need. So it’s very important to retain them.”

The article introduces Yasemin Mehmet, 68, she returned to Fashion-Enter last year after briefly retiring in late 2021 to care for her daughter and grandson, who were in poor health. As she machine-sewed a wedding dress, Mehmet said money was part of the reason she returned, but that she still enjoyed creating clothes, more than half a century after starting work as a 14-year-old girl. “I made it up. I created it. That’s always given me pleasure,” she said.

Jenny told Reuters that she has increased pay a bit and offered flexible job roles and shifts to make the apparel company more appealing. A skilled stitcher can earn £20 pounds ($24) an hour, – well above the British average – but it takes years for a new worker to reach that standard.

On the flip side of the coin in some cases, older people who do want to work find it difficult to get hired. The article included Maya Bhose, 61, she is looking for a position as a marketing director, preferably at a charity, but has struggled to find work for a year, and has only received one job interview since September. She said she felt her age was a key factor for the lack of interest from employers.

Research by the Trades Union Congress suggests that for lower-paid Britons aged 50-64, ill health is a more common reason to leave work than early retirement. While Business groups and researchers agree that acting on childcare would do more to unlock greater economic growth.

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