While most people think of contractors as members of the younger set, it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way – and it actually may not be!
In fact, a new research study found recently that older freelancers, contractors, and umbrella company workers could play a major role in providing a solution for the skills shortage gripping the UK. The report found that 6 out of every 10 baby boomers are planning to keep working beyond retirement by working part-time as an interim worker, which honestly doesn’t surprise me at all; first of all, the flexibility of contract working is a fantastic draw for pensioners looking to make a bit of extra dosh, and it’s also unfortunately true that the current economy and the state of the UK savings market means that many new retirees simply can’t afford not to bring in some additional income.
There’s a serious skills shortage brewing in the UK, as the next ten years will see some 13.5 million positions that will need to be filled, yet there will only be about 7 million younger Brits graduating from school and college. With such a massive number of jobs going unfulfilled, older contract workers may be just the boon the economy needs to plug the skills gap and get the economy humming again finally, if you ask me; it’s going to take more than immigration to make up the 6.5 million vacancy shortfall, after all!
Of course this means that employers are going to have to adapt to having nearly seven million aged Brits entering the workforce. Age discrimination is kind of a thing still in this day and age, even though that’s more than a bit daft considering the number of baby boomers about to retire is positively massive; not only that but we’re all living longer thanks to medical breakthroughs, so our population is just going to get older isn’t it?
Let’s face it: older Brits may have a reputation for being set in their ways and sometimes a bit intractable when it comes to learning newer technologies, but it’s not like it was when you were a nipper and you had to set up your granddad’s videocasette recorder for him because the time on it kept blinking 12.00. The boomer generation is the same one responsible for many of the technological wonders that we have today such as the internet, so let’s not discount their ability to embrace new things just yet, shall we?
