An exodus of over-50s who quit work during the pandemic is fuelling wage inflation, says the boss of John Lewis.

The UK has seen a million people, mostly in their 50s, leave work since the start of the pandemic, as reported by the BBC.

Dame Sharon White, chair of the John Lewis partnership, said the government must think of ways to encourage older people back into work.

The number of "economically inactive" people - without a job and not seeking work - is higher than before Covid, according to the Office for National Statistics. People aged 50 to 70 cite retirement as the most popular reason for not working.

With vacancies at a record high, employers who want to attract and retain staff are under pressure to increase wages, which fuels inflation.

Dame Sharon said every business in the UK is finding it difficult to recruit at the moment because there are more jobs and far fewer people looking for work.

She said introducing flexible retirement plans and skills courses for older workers to retrain for different jobs could help encourage older people back into work.