Video: Older Workers in the Labour Market

The video shows that:

• The number of people of state pension age and above in employment has nearly doubled over the past two decades, from 753,000 in 1993 to 1.4 million in 2011.

• Older workers are far more likely to be self-employed than their younger counterparts: 32 per cent compared with 13 per cent.

• Around two-thirds of the older workers are part-time but they are generally doing this shorter roles with the same employer. Eight in every 10 of older workers have been with their employer for five years or more.

• Men working later in life tend to stay on in higher skill roles while women tend to stay on in lower skill roles.

• Just over a half (51 per cent) of older workers are in small organisations of fewer than 25 employees

• Across the country, London and the South East have the highest percentages of people aged above state pension age in employment and the North East has the lowest.

Source: Office for National Statistics

Background notes

1. Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: media.relations@ons.gsi.gov.uk

   These National Statistics are produced to high professional standards and released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.