Fewer
males aged 70 or more are employed than a year ago despite a surge in the
number of people over the retired age in employment.
Figures
from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that 87,000 males aged 70 or
more are in employment, compared with 104,000 last year.
Yet,
there are 5,000 more females of the same age range in employment in 2004 than
there were in 2003.
Overall,
the ONS said there are 134,000 people aged 70 or more in employment in 2004
compared with 146,000 last year. Ten years ago, there were 130,000 in
employment.
But
there are 1,011,000 people beyond the retirement age in employment in 2004 –
almost a 25 per cent increase on the 772,000 employed in 1994.
Women
are nearly twice as likely to work after the normal retirement age than men.
“A
lot of these people have to work on because their pensions aren’t high enough,”
said Patrick Grattan, chief executive of the Third Employment Network, which
campaigns on pensioner issues.
“Lots
of them are doing jobs they don’t want to do for employers who don’t really
want them.”
There
will be many more pensioners in employment in the future. The Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development said there will be 81 million people aged
65 or over in the EU by 2025, compared with the current figure of 57 million.
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Management
guru Peter Drucker said: “Within the next 20 to 30 years, the retirement age in
all developed countries will have to rise to about 79 or so…. which corresponds
to age 65 in 1936.”
