Voices: ‘Discarded like a used tissue’: Readers on how ageism is forcing over-50s out of work

Age discrimination is rife in the workplace, Independent readers say, after new ONS figures showed unemployment rising and vacancies falling.

Readers said the lack of jobs was hitting older people hard with those in their 50s and 60s finding themselves “discarded like a used tissue” after decades of loyal service.

Some described spiralling into depression and experiencing financial strain after redundancy, while others said they had been forced to take low-paid or part-time work stacking shelves despite years of professional experience.

Several blamed cost-cutting managers who see older employees as “expensive” and “outdated,” arguing this short-sighted approach sacrifices skills, mentorship and productivity.

Others said companies’ obsession with cheap labour and short-term profits has left them struggling to rebuild teams.

A number of readers have turned to early retirement or self-employment out of necessity, only to find both solutions exhausting and precarious.

While a few spoke of eventually finding rewarding work, most painted a bleak picture of insecurity, lost confidence and wasted experience – a generation of “old horses” who feel written off before their time.

Here’s what you had to say:

Discarded after 30 years

My wife worked for the same company for 30 years. She was then discarded like a used tissue purely because she earned too much.

This led to four years of agony for us as she spiralled into depression and heavy drinking, which almost led to the break-up of our relationship. I was angry because she had given most of her life to the company. Her experience and skills were completely disregarded. After a year of job hunting, she ended up in a local supermarket, which she hated.

Luckily, she had a private pension, which meant she could retire. I had, and still have, a relatively well-paid job which keeps us comfortable. I have every sympathy with those who are finding the adjustment difficult. Never give up, though. Something will turn up.

kingofsawbo

Belittling

At 62, I have never qualified for unemployment benefit when I was made redundant three times and always had private unemployment insurance. I was last let go three years ago. I had a stint as self-employed, where the exploitation was simply unbelievable.

I attended job interviews where I was told I was too senior/over-qualified for the roles. I had quite a few offers of paid work two days a week, but in reality had to be on-call throughout the week for no extra compensation. Could have worked for free, sorry, “volunteered,” doing exactly the same job as before, so I politely declined. Eventually, I made the decision to start drawing my very modest deferred council pension and to enjoy life with considerably fewer material things. It's tough, but I am getting used to it.

The exploitation and belittling of my generation when applying for roles can destroy one’s self-confidence and mental health, which I experienced firsthand. I refuse to transfer my hard-earned skills to stack shelves at supermarkets.

Cecinha

Our kids will see no inheritance

I went through my first redundancy at 45 and found my next job after eight months. The second redundancy was at 55, and it took 18 months to find a job. The third redundancy was at 63, and after seven months I found a contract job that ended two months after my 65th birthday. Now unemployed, on the dole, I am waiting for November when my state pension kicks in, carefully using some of the funds in my private pension.

Our kids will likely see little to no inheritance, which is probably okay given it would have been taxed to worthlessness. When we have to move to a managed care facility and sell the house, that'll finish off any money we have.

This country MUST pass an age discrimination law banning employers from only hiring younger workers OR face the oblivion of costs!

SpendThrifty

Older workers are more expensive

It has always been more difficult for older workers. If they aspire to stay within their field of work, an older worker is more experienced and therefore more expensive, and if they move to pastures new, they are regarded (usually wrongly) as more of a risk, less adaptable, and harder to train.

By the same token, many of the complaints from younger workers about finding it hard to get that all-important first job are horribly familiar from when I was job hunting for the first time 40 years ago. There's a lot of panic about jobs, but despite the disruptive impact of AI, I'm not convinced there's anything much new here.

Tanaquil2

Listen to us old horses

I’m 57 and used to work in accounting, doing audits for chartered accountants. I’ve been pushing trolleys at Tesco and filling shelves and working the tills at Co-op for six years now.

Here’s some business advice from me: Cutting costs (i.e., wages) instead of increasing turnover with increased productivity leads to a decrease in value and quality of the product/service. It is false economy. The business folds. They sucked it dry – I saw so many young hotshot CEOs do this in my 30 years. Greed has, and always will, be around.

But they don’t take advice from us old ones anymore – we’re old horses that are outdated, expensive to feed, and a couple of steps away from being glue. I could be training a whole new bunch of finance staff, which could keep businesses going for the long haul, but instead I’m packing those shelves with your bread.

JaneMM

It’s scary out there

I'm 60 now. Just before Covid, my job was relocated to someone cheaper and younger in the EU. Then Covid hit and there weren't interviews happening anywhere. Covid ate all my savings and settlement, and I finally found a job in a new industry on half the salary, although just for two years. Luckily, it gave me the experience to bounce into a better permanent role afterwards. I do not make anything like my old salary, but I have a great job that I enjoy… for now. It is scary out there. I've never been out of work before and I'm not sure if I could find a new role now.

Slightly Tipsy Max

Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.

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