The Government should focus on creating meaningful jobs for the under-25s, not trying to get over-50s back to work - Jayne Dowle

Does that mean me? I’m over 50 and I can truthfully state that I have never been to a golf course in my life.

With a son and daughter, aged 20 and 17 now, I’m probably working harder – certainly in terms of hours – than I have since my twenties.

And personally, I find that very exciting. After two decades of juggling a career and children, the world is opening up for me again.

My kids no longer need taking to school, picking up from after-school club, require every single meal, snack and sandwich making, bed-time stories or anything else much, except emotional support and hot water.

I’m pretty much free to work when I want, so Mr Hunt, please don’t worry. I’m keeping myself occupied well away from the golf course, earning money and paying my taxes.

He’s aiming his concern at the wrong age group. We 50-somethings have learned to look after ourselves. We are perfectly capable of making up our own minds about whether we want to work, or feel able to, or use our time in some other way which benefits society in general, our community or family.

For instance, I’ve got friends who’ve worked in the public sector all their lives, and have retired in their 50s.

As a self-employed person who doesn’t earn if she doesn’t work, and with only a small private pension to come, I can’t say I haven’t envied their financial security. But then again, I’m privileged to earn my living by doing what I love almost every day.

Many of these friends have found very useful things to do with their time in retirement; they have used their life experience and hard-fought grasp of committee politics to utilise their expertise as chairpersons and trustees of charities, action groups and voluntary services.

If the Chancellor really wants to tackle the UK’s perceived labour shortage, he should give serious attention to the under-25s, like my son, who is keen to find a new job after three years stocking shelves.

Perhaps Mr Hunt blithely assumes that everyone in this age group is a university student or recent graduate, already recruited for a stellar career in banking or management consultancy.

As well as graduates struggling to gain a foothold in their career of choice, there are millions of young people who left school at 16 or 18, and need fulfilling and respectably-paid full-time jobs, to cover rent or mortgages, bills and bringing up their own children.

It's not enough to cry ‘labour shortage’ and assume there are countless attractive and well-numerated vacancies out there. It very much depends on where you live in the UK, your skills and qualifications, and how far you are able to travel or relocate.

I know this because I’ve spent the last couple of weeks ploughing through Indeed (the online job search portal) every evening.

Job Centres, it’s interesting to note, are largely dedicated to finding jobs for Universal Credit claimants, not people already in work.

We’ve been trying to spot something that a 20-year-old supermarket worker with a Level 3 college diploma in broadcast journalism might be suitable for.

Jack has applied for lots of jobs that he would like to do and feels capable of - shop work, logistics, school assistant, clerical support at a football club - but hasn’t heard back from one single organisation as yet.

I keep murmuring the word ‘agency’ but he’s rightfully wary of signing up to a contract which might see his earnings top-sliced and no guarantee of regular hours. He’s bright, confident, engaging and got nowhere to go except online.

We’ve checked the DWP jobs website too; where as of Wednesday there are a grand total of 334 jobs available in Barnsley.

I’m not sure where Mr Hunt is getting his ‘labour shortage’ from, but there’s certainly no glut of vacancies in our hometown, with its total population of around a quarter of a million, 248,000, people.

If Mr Hunt really wants to get the nation working, he should consider setting up a national public employment service, as in Germany. The Bundesagentur fur Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency) is a nationwide network of more than 700 agencies and offices finding jobs for people of all ages.