Pensions - Articles - Comment from Aegon on the latest labour market statistics

 “With more than half of the annual increase in the number of people in work occurring among those aged between 50 and 64 years old, older workers are fuelling the UK workforce. A fixed retirement date is increasingly being replaced by a more flexible attitude towards work and retirement, with many people choosing to combine elements of the two as they get older.

 “Ten years ago 72% of men and 58.5% of women aged 50 to 64 were employed. Now these employment rates have increased to 76.6% and 68.4% respectively. And the proportion of workers aged 65 years and older has increased from 7.5% to 11.1% in last ten years*.

 “The changes to the state pension age for women is likely to have contributed to the increase in the employment rate among older women over the last few years and with the state pension age set to rise to age 66 for both men and women by 2020, more people will begin to plan their retirement in line with state pension age increases.