Number of people working beyond state pension age doubles to 1.4 million over past 20 years
This article explains: The number of people working beyond state pension age has almost doubled to 1.4 million in the past 20 years, official figures revealed today.
One in eight (12 per cent) of older people now work beyond pension age up from just 7.6 per cent in 1993.
Two thirds of older workers have taken part time jobs with the most popular occupations being taxi drivers, care workers and cleaners.
The ONS found that a high proportion (two thirds) of the older men had stayed on in “higher skilled” roles such as sales directors and chief executives.
Other male workers were most likely to work as farmers or taxi drivers while most women worked in lower skilled jobs with the most popular occupations being cleaners, administration assistants, care workers and shop assistants.
Almost a third of older workers were self-employed, compared with just 13 per cent of those below the state pension age.
It makes me reflect on the operation of what is called the “informal” economy in rural England where this phenomenon has been prevalent for years in terms of both paid and unpaid work. We need to do far more research in the interests of a new economic model into what changing and in some cases embedded but understudied aspects of our economic life can teach us going forward.