Letter: Jobs for the over-55s

Sir: The first two Carnegie reports on Third Age, highlighted by your leading article (16 September), make salutary reading. In addition, the recent OECD Employment Outlook shows that the percentage of the population of men and women aged 55 and over in employment in the UK has fallen from 52 per cent and 20 per cent respectively in the early Seventies to 33 and 15 per cent in 1990.

My colleagues and I in Future Perfect welcome a greater awareness of this serious issue. We have been working since 1989 to counteract the effects of this adverse trend. We believe that there is a partial cure available, through enabling mature employees to make a successful transition to working independently as freelance operators, possibly part-time, for their former employer and part-time in other fields.

Working closely with Skillbase, launched by IBM in 1990, we have been helping companies and individuals to deal effectively with this transition; it is a critical life point, and requires special attention if the skills and experience of mature employees are not to be lost.

Yours sincerely,

JOHN McLEAN FOX

Future Perfect

London, WC2