Changing patterns of work
Partly due to the 2011 abolition of the default retirement age and the current phased increases in State Pension age, an increasing number of people are working longer than ever before. They are conscious of the need to fill the financial void between an insufficient pension and lengthening life expectancy. Additional pressures sometimes include supporting family and thinking about covering care costs in later life.
Data from the Department for Work and Pensions8 tells us that although both men and women are staying in the workplace for much longer, for women the change has been more rapid, influenced by the equalisation of State Pension ages for men and women. In a dramatic reversal of the trend towards early retirement that typified the 1980s and 90s, the average departure age from the labour force for women has jumped by 3.3 years since 1998, to reach 63.9. For men, the average exit age is now 65.1 years, a rise of two years since 1998. Just over 10% of people are working beyond 65, twice the percentage in 2000, with the number of women working past age 65 almost tripling. The employment rate for women aged 55 to 59 has increased from 52.5% in 1998 to 70.7% in 2018.
8DWP, Oct 2018
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