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CHAPTER 7
Learning, work and later life in the UK: guidance needs of an ageing workforce 137

and in quality assurance roles, where pressures of the job can be less severe,
and personal expertise and status is recognised, but managerial progression
ladders are not blocked (McNair and Flynn, 2005).
Employers seem to agree that the skills base is broadly adequate. The 2009
national employer skills survey (UKCES, 2010) found that only 7% of firms
had skills gaps (where current staff are underqualified), which may well
represent a natural level, since with normal staff turnover, a proportion of
employees will always be new and learning the job. Further, only 3% report
skills shortages where they are unable to recruit qualified people. Significantly,
two of the sectors with the highest proportion of skills gaps and shortages
(retail, and health and social care), are also sectors with a high proportion of
older workers, which suggests that the market does respond when employer
needs and employee aspirations coincide.
The contrast could hardly be more stark than between these views of
employees and employers on one hand, and government, which has been
arguing for decades that the country has a major skills problem, and needs
much more training (DIUS, 2007). There are several possible explanations for
this disagreement. One is that, despite good intentions of senior managers,
there is a ʻconspiracy to underperformʼ between line managers and older
workers. Organising and paying for training requires extra work by busy
managers, and may be uncomfortable for workers who have not trained for
years. Both may feel that suboptimal productivity is a price worth paying for a
quiet life. However, their tacit agreement to opt for an easier life increases the
risk for the individual, should they later be made redundant.
However, the most likely explanation, especially in relation to older workers,
is perceptions of time and risk. Government necessarily takes a longer-term
view of skills needs and the economy than individual employers, whose
business planning is often relatively short term. For older employees, the
timescale is even shorter. The two groups who continue to learn share a sense
of an ongoing future: those in high training occupations and sectors, who are
likely to work longer, and lifelong learners who have always enjoyed learning,
and would continue beyond retirement.
The rest of older workers divide into two groups. For the insiders, who have
found a reasonably secure place in the labour market, the question is ʻcan I
last until retirement without the extra effort of training?ʼ There are two reasons
why their answer may be wrong. First, they may underestimate the time to
retirement, or the length of retirement (most people underestimate their life
expectancy (Turner, 2009)). It is becoming easier to work longer, and some
will find they need the money. Second, they may underestimate the risk of