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Record Numbers Work Past
Retirement Age
By Sophie Borland
July 20, 2007
The number of people working past the state pension age
is higher than ever before, according to the latest figures. Men over
the age of 65 and women over 60 account for record numbers of people
taking up new jobs, a survey by the Office for National Statistics has
found.
The figures showed that people above the pension age, 65 for men and 60
for women, make up just under half of the 180,000 people who were hired
over the last year.
There are an estimated 1.2 million people of pensionable age in work, of
which two thirds are women. Experts have attributed the rise to growing
concerns over the pensions crisis and many older people feel obliged to
take up menial jobs.
At the same time, fewer employers are offering their workers incentives
to leave early, while so-called "golden handshake" payments leading up
to retirement are increasingly rare. About 11 per cent of people above
the pension age are now thought to be working compared with just eight
per cent in the mid 1990s.
Chris Ball, chief executive of The Age and Employment Network, said:
"Our impression is that many people are accepting jobs below their
qualifications and capabilities, often out of economic necessity. This
remains a waste of important resources and is, frankly, demeaning to
older people."
Sam Mercer, chief executive of the Employers Forum on Age, said
employers were more willing to take on older workers following the
introduction of anti-age discrimination laws last October. She added:
"As people live longer there is a realisation that they can't afford a
30-year retirement."
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