The NETER employment crisis: The alarming and overlooked rise of people unable to find work in their 50s and 60s

Not being in education, employment or training is more common amongst people aged between 50 and state pension age than it is amongst young people, as campaigners urge for both employment crises to be treated with equal prominence.  

More than one in five (21%) of people aged between 50 and state pension age are currently not in education, employment, training or retirement. The current proportion of the 16-24-year-old population that is classed as NEET stands at 13%.  

The government has been compelled to act on youth unemployment with the numbers of NEETs interested or actively seeking work growing from 504,000 at the end of 2023 to 660,000 at the end of 2025 - an increase of 31%. 

But a similar level of priority and intervention has not been forthcoming despite the fact that 918,000 people aged between 50 and state pension age were interested in or actively seeking work between October and December 2025 – a 22% increase from the same period two years earlier and the largest figure for this group since 2020.  

While both groups are vulnerable in a weak labour market, the government has focused its attention almost entirely on tackling the youth unemployment crisis including announcing £820m in funding in last year’s Budget. In contrast, there have been no major announcements or programmes to help tackle the 50+ employment crisis.  

That is why the Centre for Ageing Better is announcing today the launch of its NETER metric, designed to present a clear and regularly updated figure on the number of people aged between 50 and state pension age not in employment, training, education or retirement.    

The NETER figure, inclusive of those looking for work along with people with long-term health conditions and caring responsibilities, stands at 2.9 million people for 2025.  

The Centre for Ageing Better, alongside Learning and Work Institute, Age UK and Hospitality UK, is calling on the government to adopt NETER as a headline measure for people aged between 50 and state pension age. This figure should be published regularly alongside other labour market indicators, and the government should use the measure to drive a new strategy for longer working lives.

Raising employment rates amongst people aged 50-state pension age and closing the gap with the 35-49 age group, which currently stands at 15%, would reap huge benefit to the country with every one percentage removed from the gap representing a £7 billion boost to the economy.

Dr Andrea Barry, Deputy Director for Work, Transitions, and Retirement at the Centre for Ageing Better, said:  

“But that is equally true of the NETER employment crisis which has not received nearly enough attention from this government, or previous administrations.

“We need the challenge of getting more of this age group back into work pushed much further up the government’s current list of priorities.  

“NEETs and NETERs share a lot in common, and for those reasons both groups need tailored and targeted support. 

“They are both an underused pool of talent whose employment rates wallow at levels well below other age groups.

“They are both groups whose capabilities are questioned or underestimated based on unfounded assumptions about their age.   

“And they are two groups who potentially face the most amount of uncertainty and threat in the workplace from the rise of AI.  

“Highlighting the contrasting levels of government response to each age group is not a call to reduce the support for NEETs.  

“We do so in advocating for equal levels of government priority and focus for NETERs. The economic case to support both these groups is indisputable.

“The widespread use of NEET statistics has helped drive understanding, accountability and action on youth employment.  

“The new NETER measure shines a light on a group that is largely invisible in existing labour market statistics.  

“The government should adopt NETER as a headline measure for people aged 50 to state pension age and publish it regularly alongside other labour market indicators.  

“NETER should also be used as an intermediate outcome measure within the government’s flagship Get Britain Working initiative, helping national and local leaders to track progress and identify inequalities.”  

The Centre for Ageing Better will update its figure for the number of NETERs regularly and it will be displayed via a new NETERs online data dashboard, which will be launched in the Autumn.  

Among the 50 to state pension age group, seven in ten (70%) are employed, one in five are NETER (21%), fewer than one in ten are retired (9%) while very small numbers are in education (0.1%) or training (0.1%).  

Our initial analysis of this age-group reveals the most common reasons for being a NETER include:  

• More than one in two (55%) of NETERs cite long-term illness or disability as the reason (equivalent to 1.6 million people) - of which 361,836 (22.5%) are interested/looking for work  
• Nearly one in five (17%) cite caring responsibilities (490,000 people) - of which 94,820 (19.5%) are interested/looking for work  
• Around one in six (16%) are classed as economically inactive (460,000 people) – of which 130,566 (28.5%) are interested in working  
• More than one in ten (11%) are unemployed (310,000 people)  

The new NETER analysis also reveals that reasons given for inactivity amongst NETERs varies significantly by gender including:  

• Among those who cite caring responsibilities, 78% are women and 22% are men  
• Among those who cite disability or illness, 55% are women and 45% are men  
• Among those listed as unemployed and actively looking for work, 45% are women and 55% are men  

As well as adopting the NETER figure as a national measure of progress and using it as the basis for a new strategy for longer working lives, the Centre for Ageing Better is also calling on the government to use NETER figures to support its ambition for good growth in every postcode.  

As employment and skills powers are devolved to strategic authorities, NETER data should be used to help local and national leaders identify where barriers are greatest and where interventions are succeeding to support a more place-based approach to longer working lives.  

The charity is also urging the government to make a meaningful commitment to support older working age people who are NETER at the Autumn Budget scheduled for October.  

Dr Carole Easton OBE, Chief Executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said:  

“We have spoken with people whose careful future financial planning has been ripped up after being frozen out of the labour market through ageism. They now face losing everything they have worked towards over decades.

“We have spoken with people who have become completely demoralised from sending hundreds of fruitless job applications with scarcely a response or acknowledgement.

“Too many people in this age group have been reduced to breaking point for the government to not take action.  

“But there is also a broader argument to be made for action.  

“This is an issue that is not going away, it will only grow in magnitude in the coming years. “There are currently 14.8 million people aged 50 to state pension age, representing 34% of the working age population.  

“By 2046, when the state pension age is currently scheduled to increase to 68, there will be 17 million people in this age group representing 37% of the working age population based on current projections.  

“Given its current size and projected growth, the NETER group warrants greater policy attention.

“Tracking the number of people not currently working, considering themselves to be retired or in the process of upskilling through education or training, is vital to understanding their position in the economy, identifying where support is needed, and providing insight into the overall health of the labour market.”