Workers Over 65 Rule!

It’s official – there are now more grumpy old men (and women) in the workforce than ever before! New data analysis from the Centre for Ageing Better has shown a large increase in workers over 65 still employed and part of the labour force.

One Million
The Centre based their findings on the official Office for National Statistics (ONS) Labour Market statistics, which show that the number has grown by nearly one million, twice the number recorded in 2000.

No surprise with the cost of living and the shrinking of pension pots over the last few years. Add in the fact that ‘older’ workers are healthier than ever before and 60 could be the new ‘middle age’. However, some may be working still because they want to, rather than through economic necessity.

Quality of Life
Either way, it would be interesting to see a survey on the quality of life of this age group and whether ‘having’ to work has a large effect on this and also if ‘wanting’ to work makes a big difference as well.

The figures show that nearly 12% of workers are continuing to be employed past their 65th birthday, up from 5% in 2000.

Zero Hours
It seems as well that a good proportion of these are on zero hours contracts which could show that they have retired from their occupation but found work elsewhere to boost their income. With the state pension age increasing who can blame them?

Obviously, this keeps the skills and experience of older workers in the workplace, but it must have an effect on the younger demographic who need to join at the bottom and start their career – if those towards the end of their career are not leaving the workforce it, you can’t fill it up at the bottom.

Rise of the Self-Employed
Unsurprisingly, older workers are more likely to be self-employed – in 2022, workers aged 60 and above accounted for one in six (17.4%) of all self-employed workers in the country, a big increase on the numbers in 2011. As well as this many mature workers will be part-time as the figures show only one in three are still in full-time employment.

Interestingly, looking at the age demographic of the Centre for Ageing Better, they seem to be a little behind the curve on this one, with 75% of their workers under 55 and 60% under 45!

More information can be found at https://ageing-better.org.uk/.