Who wants the over 50's?

Who wants to employ the over 50's? No-one it would seem, judging by last night's episode of Panorama.

According to Fiona Phillips, 400,000 over 50's are looking for work, competiting with hundreds and thousands of young people and soon to be more hundreds and thousands of those between those two age groups.

A glut of unemployment. But the over 50's have tons of experience don't they? Coo, the amount of jobs young people are turned down for because they don't have any...

No matter it seems. If there's money in any given pot, it can be used to train the young people.

We were introduced to four over 50's in the programme. One woman was tearful as she said she'd never understood how important the status of a job was until she went from being an education advisor going into schools, to losing that job and becoming a supply teacher. I only wrote about work defining us today! I thought, as I watched her. It doesn't, it shouldn't. The problem with supply teaching, I'm guessing, is there's no consistency to it, no fixed contract. How many over 50's want one of those? How many under 50's? Stable employment...

Mr Digby, crikey, his advice to them? Emigrate! Oh, we don't need you anymore, go away! I told a worker at the jobcentre I wanted to "leave" but she misunderstood my suicide talk and said "oh no, don't go, we need workers like you to stay in the country" It was nice of her to say ("it's economically unviable for you to work," said my future boss when my company thrust me upon him all those post pregnancy years ago..)

Move, be mobile around Britain, he said..ok, where is there a glut of jobs and little competition for them? (That's not a factory line.. oh there I go.. fussy fussy..)

Work for free...I have to say, he did look uncomfortable saying that to inviduals who are his peers. YOu wouldn't like to work for free would you Digby? No. We can all understand that.

CEO's go from earning 88 times that of the average worker to 100 times that of the average worker!! Whoppee if you're a CEO!

The Minister for Employment said loads of jobs would be coming through the private sector soon. Oh they always say that. Private company will be paid to take you on so really encouraged to keep the conveyor belt of potential staff moving,in order to generate more cash for itself!!! No, he didn't say that...even if it is the truth..

For all my cynisism, it was a great report. I didn't need to watch it although blogging about it gives the issue abit more exposure I guess.

I wonder who did watch it. I wonder if those four people found paid employment off the back of the episode. It didn't say on the credits at the end but maybe they have by now?

"Of course there'll be winners and losers" - a coalition member said flippantly on Newsnight last year talking about work. I hope they can see, can really see the situations that so many thousands of people are stuck in and their lives are not some flipping game.

Winner or loser - Encourage society to define that person as one or the other by their job? Is that what you do?

Grrrr