During recessionary times do you aim young or old?

Government employment statistics, published yesterday, suggest the answer is that both old and young are being badly hit by the recession that is only just beginning.

The figures showed a 53,000 increase in the number of 18 to 24-year-olds out of work, to 579,000, in the three months to September. This means that unemployment among the younger age group is increasing faster than for the general population - up by 12.8% for those out of work for up to six months.

More than half a million people under the age of 25 are not in education, employment or training. Forget the human tragedy of this; just think of their empty wallets!

But, there had been a 29.7% increase in the number of people over 50 unemployed for between six and 12 months. So oldies are also getting pushed out of the workforce.

So as a hotshot marketer - what do you do with this information? Simple. Ignore the numbers.
There will be nuggets of demographic gold, with protected wealth, in both age groups. You are going to have to be smarter at finding it.

Another interesting statistic from the research was about average earnings for the three month period until September 2008.

The group with highest increase in earnings was the public sector (Government workers) 3.9%. All other parts of the UK economy experienced average earnings remaining static or decreasing. Link this to the fact that public sector workers receive a pension that is unaffected by the financial maelstrom that is enveloping the rest of the population and you can see why they are a prime market segment to attack. Dick Stroud