Gen X at Work · This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
Through the 2010s the redundancy rate for people aged 50 and over ran above the rate for those aged 35 to 49, reaching 1.43 times it in 2018 and 1.41 in 2019. That pattern has closed. In 2023 and 2024 the over-fifty rate fell below the 35 to 49 rate, and in 2026 the highest redundancy rate of any age band is among people aged 35 to 49. The table is titled Redundancies by industry, age, sex and re-employment rates. The September 2026 edition contains no re-employment figures.
The figures are calculated from the Age rates sheet of ONS table RED02, edition published 15 September 2026. The underlying rates are per thousand employees, not seasonally adjusted, and volatile quarter to quarter, so annual averages are used. The ratio by year runs 1.13 in 2009, 1.40 in 2013, 1.43 in 2018, 1.41 in 2019, 1.16 in 2022, 0.81 in 2023, 0.92 in 2024, 1.25 in 2025 and 0.95 in 2026.
Redundancy rates per thousand employees by age band, UK, not seasonally adjusted, from the Labour Force Survey. Annual figures calculated by averaging the rolling three-month estimates within each calendar year.
Source: Office for National Statistics, table RED02, 15 September 2026.