More older kiwis working

[MotherBear]

More older Kiwis in work
The Dominion Post | Wednesday, 7 March 2007

More older Kiwis are in employment, a Labour Department study has found.

The department's Older People in Work report, issued yesterday, found 77 per cent of people aged between 50 and 64 were working in 2005, up from 57 per cent in 1991. The numbers in work more than doubled from 267,000 in 1991 to 547,000 in 2005.

"In today's climate of skills and labour shortages, we're observing more and more employers working to break down barriers to paid work for all age groups," workforce policy group manager Lesley Haines said.

The proportion of older women in work grew "markedly" from 45 per cent to 70 per cent over the same period. "Factors contributing to this growth include the fact that women are pursuing careers across their lifetime, technological changes to the nature of work and ongoing skills shortages. Raising the age eligibility for superannuation has also played an important part."

The study shows local government legislators, judges, cattle farmers and farm workers were the occupations with the highest average ages in 2001.

The average age of local government legislators was 56.

More here .