Older workers have been worst hit by the current job cuts in the UK, figures by the National Office of Statistics show.
The overall employment rate in the country has fallen to 74.7 per cent and the number of unemployed people increased by 81,000 over the quarter.
Furthermore, the statistics reveal that there are 20,000 less people aged between 50 and state pension age in work, with 17,000 of these being men.
Chris Ball, chief executive of the Age & Employment Network, told Personnel Today: "The rises in unemployment and redundancies support our suspicions that older workers - and men in particular - are bearing the brunt of the jobs market slowdown."
Last week the Trades Union Congress warned that long-term unemployment in the UK could be as high as 700,000 by 2009.
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