There was much to take in at the UK Age Research Forum, ‘Promoting the Collaboration of Age Research,’ which took place on 29th September. Of general interest were the papers given by the two keynote speakers. The first was Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of UCL International Institute for Society and Health. Sir Michael introduced us to ELSA – the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The findings and data from this fantastic longitudinal study are open to all, and reports can be found at http://www.natcen.ac.uk/elsa/docs/findings.htm. One of the many key findings from the survey is that the best predictor of longevity is not age – but wealth. This means accumulated wealth; including savings, pension and property. “The impact of socio-economic circumstances is more important than age.” There is obviously a relationship here with education and profession (the least numerate are the least likely to have savings and a pension). But it adds dramatic evidence to the adage that poverty kills.
This theme was further reinforced by the second speaker, George Magnus who is Senior Economic Advisor to UBS Investment Bank (and author of ‘The Age of Ageing’). We are now in a historically unique stage of longevity and weak fertility. That means we have the phenomena of ‘rising dependency’, with more people reliant on a smaller workforce, and the decline of the ‘demographic dividend’ (which has resulted in rising consumption, rising savings and general well-being). This means that the continued employment of older people over 50 is absolutely critical to the economic well-being of both the country and of individuals – especially older women who suffer from poverty in particular. Employment would mean older people continuing to contribute to the economy (NI, taxes, being active consumers), of having a better quality of life in every respect, and not being dependent on others. George Magnus argued that a central goal of government must be to create jobs for older (and younger) workers, but there is currently no government strategy to develop new industry, to take up the slack from the public sector, or to retrain. On the basis of the latest research findings about the detrimental impact of poverty on the quality and longevity of life, this makes the challenge even more fundamental.