Gen X at Work · one of three stories

This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.

In 2025, 2.9 million people aged fifty to state pension age were neither working nor retired: one in five. Over-fifties who lost a job and found another returned on hourly pay 9.5 per cent lower, and fewer than two in three were back within six months. An unemployed 50 to 64 year old was nearly twice as likely as a 35 to 49 year old to have been out of work for a year.

The ONS publishes a redundancy table with “re-employment rates” in the title and no re-employment figures in it. So nobody in government can tell you whether the person who ran a team at fifty is running one at fifty-three.

Losing the job is not the unusual part. Getting back is.

Everything filed on this story

2026
Employment gap for 50 to 64s narrows to 12.9 points in 2026Department for Work and Pensions, 24 Sep 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
Redundancy no longer falls hardest on the over-fiftiesOffice for National Statistics, table RED02, 15 Sep 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2024
A quarter of 55-64s hold under £30,000 in pensionsInternational Longevity Centre UK, 15 Sep 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
Employment among 50 to 64s is still below its 2019 rateOffice for National Statistics, table A05, 15 Sep 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
One in three unemployed over-fifties has been looking for more than a yearOffice for National Statistics, table UNEM01, 15 Sep 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2025
918,000 over-50s sought work in late 2025, survey findsPeople Management, 10 Sep 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
2.9 million people between fifty and pension age are neither working nor retiredCentre for Ageing Better, NETER: a New Labour Market Measure, 7 Sep 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
Over-50s are 22% of one scheme, half of ill-health joblessCentre for Ageing Better, 26 Jun 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
Midlifers’ average pension pot stands at £27,000Legal & General, 18 Mar 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2026
Poll: workers seen as less hireable from age 55People Management, 17 Feb 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2025
UK employment rate for 55-64s around 66%, report findsStandard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement, 20 Jan 2026This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2025
Full-time pay peaks at 40 to 49 and falls through the fiftiesOffice for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, table 6, 23 Oct 2025This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2025
Employment rate for 50 to 64s reaches 71.6% in 2025Department for Work and Pensions, 30 Sep 2025This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.
2021
Over-fifties who found new work went back on 9.5 per cent lessResolution Foundation, A U-shaped crisis, 26 Apr 2021This generation is being pushed out of work before it reaches a pension. Getting back in is harder, and it pays less.