Where People Are Working Beyond 65

There is a huge disparity in labor force participation among over 65-year-olds across different OECD countries. 

Statista’s Katharina Buchholz reports that, according to data from the organization, Japan and Korea are the places where those aged 65 and over are making up the biggest share of the labor force – between 13 and 14 percent.

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In contrast, Europe, where aging societies are also common, is seeing much fewer people work beyond 65.

The number ranged from 3.8 percent of the labor force in the United Kingdom and just 1.3 percent in Spain.

This is despite the fact that both countries – like most developed nations – are raising the retirement age, have a current minimum retirement age around 66 years and will reach 67 years before the end of the decade.

In the United States, the minimum retirement age is about the same, but still, the share of older workers is higher at 6.6 percent of the labor force – above that of Mexico.

This fact signals that older Americans can feel the need to work longer in a country that relies heavily on individual pension accounts and offers little in regards of public pension benefits to lower-wage earners.