The coronavirus pandemic and older workers

Older workers are one group of people who are at risk of suffering serious and persistent consequences from the economic turmoil arising from the coronavirus pandemic. In this briefing note, we use data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 study to examine how the work activity of older individuals has been affected by the pandemic, how older workers' concerns about their job security vary with their individual characteristics, and how retirement plans have already been affected by the crisis. The data were collected in June-July 2020, from a sample of nearly 6,000 individuals in their 50s and older.