PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Employment: Bury North (13 October 2017)
Question Asked
Asked by:
Mr James Frith (Labour)
Answer
The data requested is not held, however the number of older workers in the UK is at a record high, currently there are 10m workers aged 50 years and over. There are 4.2m women aged 50-64 in employment; this compares to 3.5m five years ago. There are 1.2 million individuals in employment aged over 65, of which 39% are women.
Employment rates for older workers have also been increasing and have recently reached record highs. In the past ten years, the employment rate for people aged 50-64 has increased by 6.2 percentage points (pp) (from 64.9% in 2007 to 71.1% in 2017). The current employment rate for women aged 50-64 is at a record high of 66.8%.
Further information on estimates of employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and other employment-related statistics for the UK can be found in the “UK labour market: September 2017” statistical bulletin published at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website:
The Government is committed to supporting people aged 50 years and over to remain in and return to work; the ‘Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach’ strategy was published on 2nd February. This, crucially, is led by employers, but it also sets out the case for action by individuals, and the role of Government in supporting them in planning their careers and their approach to retirement. The Strategy and supporting evidence base are available at the attached web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach
Analysis on the headline measures that the government uses to monitor progress on Fuller Working Lives can be found in this statistical release:
Answered by:
Guy Opperman (Conservative)
23 October 2017
Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.