Pandemic early retirees more likely to face poverty, IFS finds

Workforce leavers in 2020-21 more likely to have been 'forced' into early retirement

Jasmine Urquhart
clock • 3 min read

Those aged between 50 and 70 who left the workforce in 2020-21 are more likely to end up in poverty in the year of exit than those in previous years, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) finds.

The think tank's 2023 Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK report primarily looked at data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study and the Office for National Statistics' Annual Population Survey to track self-reported wellbeing measures among those who recently left the workforce. The data showed those in the age group who became economically inactive the following year (2021-22) had similar outcomes to those pre-pandemic, suggesting a "particular cause for concern" among those who left the workforce during the pandemic (2020-21).  Source: IFS The report found many o...

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Jasmine Urquhart
Author spotlight

Jasmine Urquhart

Senior Correspondent at Professional Pensions

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