Mothers, older workers and disabled people should be encouraged to get jobs, a think tank has said, warning the Government that its plans to coax pandemic retirees back into employment are “misguided”.

The Resolution Foundation today said that older workers who retire during Covid-19 pandemic are “unlikely to ever come back to the workforce”, despite ministers planning to encourage them to do so.

It pointed to a sharp rise in economic inactivity over the course of the pandemic – up by 830,000 between 2019 and 2022, with three-quarters of the rise concentrated among those aged 50 and over.

The report authors said someone who took early retirement during the summer of 2020 has now been economically inactive for two-and-a-half years and that, historically, only one in 50 people in this situation return to work every three months.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride is currently carrying out a review of how to get over-50s back into employment.

The report stated: “The cohort of older workers who have left the labour market since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic have disproportionately come from high-paying, professional jobs; many of these adults will be living comfortably in their early retirement, and government policy is unlikely to prompt them to ‘un-retire’.”

Three groups where progress could be made in boosting the workforce are older workers, mothers and those with ill health or a disability, the think tank said.

The authors noted there would need to be “targeted reforms to the childcare system” in order to boost the workforce participation rate among women with children.

A Government spokesperson said: “We recognise one of our biggest challenges is how to support people to start or return to work, which is why the department is thoroughly reviewing workforce participation to understand what action should be taken on increased economic inactivity.

“As part of this work, we’re looking at plans to improve support for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, as well as investing an extra £22 million in employment support for the over-50s.”

It comes as the world’s biggest trial of a four-day working week was hailed as a “major breakthrough” after the majority of companies involved said they will keep the shorter week following the pilot.

Findings have been presented to MPs today as campaigners urge lawmakers to give every British worker a 32-hour working week.

The trial saw 61 companies across a variety of sectors in the UK commit to reducing their working hours for all staff by 20 per cent, for six months from June last year, without reducing their salaries.

At least 56 out of the 61 firms that took part said they plan to continue with the four-day working week, while 18 firms confirmed the policy has become a permanent change.

Just three companies said they have paused the four-day working week in their organisation for the time being.

Academics at the University of Cambridge and the US’s Boston College carried out the research, and the trial was co-ordinated by not-for-profit organisation 4 Day Week Global.

Among the 2,900 staff trying the shorter week, the results saw reductions in stress, sick days, staff leaving their companies, anxiety, difficulty sleeping and burnout.

The results even found that company revenue increased slightly by 1.4 per cent on average over the trial period, and by a much higher 35 per cent when compared to the same six-month period in 2021.

But Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said the trial is a “major breakthrough moment” for the campaign towards a four-day working week.

“Across a wide variety of different sectors of the economy, these incredible results show that the four-day week with no loss of pay really works”, Mr Ryle said.

“Surely the time has now come to begin rolling it out across the country.”

Abandon plans to get pandemic retirees back to work, Government urged