'Unretirement' | Cost of living sees retirees return to work - will it affect your recruitment plans?

Retired workers are heading back into the jobs market as the cost-of-living crisis forces many to reconsider how far they can stretch their savings, according to new analysis.

Rest Less, a digital community and advocate for people in their 50s, 60s and beyond, published research which found that economic activity levels amongst people aged over 50 are at their highest levels since the pandemic.

Rest Less analysed the latest labour market data from the Office of National Statistics and found that economic activity levels – a measure of people in work or looking for work – amongst people aged over 50 are now at 10,974,000 – their highest level since January to March 2020, just before the pandemic devastated the jobs market.

Official labour market data appears to be showing the first signs of a return to the long term trend of more economically active people aged over 50 – a decades long trend which was reversed by the pandemic*.