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The Glass Precipice 28 January 1999 NEW REPORT FINDS HIDDEN BARRIER TO EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS IN THE UK A new study from the Employer's Forum on Age (EFA) published today - Thursday 28 January, 1999 - is the first report to reveal a previously hidden barrier to employment and promotion prospects that could threaten the security of every working person in the UK today. THE GLASS PRECIPICE is a fact of today's employment market. The metaphor illustrates the invisible effect that age can have on an individual's employability. It is a near-vertical cliff-face that younger workers, without skills and experience, may find impossible to scale. For older people, without the opportunity and resources to regularly update their skills and training, there is a constant threat of slipping over the edge. In many cases the evidence points to older workers spending the latter years of their working life scrabbling to keep from sliding further down the precipice. Helen Garner, Campaign Manager of the EFA explains: 'Those on the margins of employment, the youngest and oldest workers, are the people most in need of job-seeking and career support. Yet this study finds that their career resources are often piecemeal, uncoordinated and under-funded. The success of UK productivity depends upon us shattering this glass precipice and creating a highly skilled, educated and adaptable workforce'. THE GLASS PRECIPICE shows that we are in danger of becoming a divided nation. One half has work skills and knowledge and is continuing to top them up - the other half do not have the skills and are falling behind. THE GLASS PRECIPICE argues that a new, partnership approach between Government, education and employers is essential to shattering the glass precipice. Two simple changes enacted by the Government could make all the difference:
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