The numbers of people working after retirement age is climbing, but those
still working after 70 has dropped in the past year.
Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that 87,000 men
aged 70 or over in employment compared to 104,000 last year. Yet there are
5,000 more women of the same age range in employment in 2004 as there were in
2003.
In total, there are just over one million people above retirement age in
employment in 2004 – an increase of almost 25 per cent on the 1994 figure of
772,000.
Women are nearly twice as likely to be working 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. "Many are doing
jobs they don’t want to do for employers who don’t really want them."
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Despite this, there will be many more pensioners in employment in the
future. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development predicts
there will be 81 million people aged 65 or over in the EU by 2025, compared to
57 million now.
Management guru Peter Drucker said the retirement age in developed countries
will rise to about 80 within the next 20 to 30 years due to people living
longer.
