Official Statistics

Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over, trends over time: September 2022

Published 8 September 2022

The latest release of these statistics can be found in the collection of economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

This publication details the trends over time in the economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over. We have refreshed the name for the Fuller Working Lives (FWL) agenda to 50 PLUS: Choices. This signals the government’s recognition of the different situations, transitions and challenges currently faced by those aged 50 and over in the labour market.

Analysis is provided on the three headline measures announced in the Fuller Working Lives (FWL) Strategy 2017 that the government use to monitor progress on FWL:

  1. Employment rate of people aged 50 years and over, by five-year age bands and gender.

  2. Average age of exit from the labour market, by gender.

  3. Employment rate gap between people aged 50 to 64 and people aged 35 to 49 years, broken down by five-year age band and gender.

This is an annual release and the next release will be in September 2023.

1. Introduction

The UK has an ageing population and workforce, therefore it is of growing importance to understand the economic labour market status of individuals approaching, at, and above State Pension age (SPa) and how trends are changing over time.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the UK labour market, and the statistics in this release should be interpreted in the context of COVID-19. Please see the What you need to know section for more details.

2. Main stories

The main stories are:

  • people aged 50 years and over have, like other age groups, been impacted in the labour market by the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020, including the 12 months covered by this report. In the period April to June 2022 there are signs of recovery from the impact of the pandemic on the average age of exit and unemployment. For employment, the employment rate gap and economic inactivity, the impact of the pandemic has continued. It is too early to determine if changes since 2019 are short-term fluctuations or the beginning of a longer-term trend

  • from the mid-1990s up to the start of the pandemic, the employment rate for people aged 50 to 64 years has been increasing (from 57.2 per cent in 1995 to 72.5 per cent in 2019) and the employment rate gap between people aged between 35 and 49 year and people aged between 50 and 64 years has been narrowing (from 22.2 percentage points in 1995 to 12.8 percentage points in 2019)

  • also, from the mid-1990s up to the start of the pandemic, the average age of exit from the labour market has been increasing steadily for both males (from 63.1 years in 1995 to 65.3 years in 2019) and females (from 60.6 years in 1995 to 64.3 years in 2019)

  • over the past year, the employment rate of people aged between 50 and 64 years has fallen by 0.3 percentage points from 71.0% in 2021 to 70.7% in 2022

  • due to increases in the employment rate of people aged between 35 and 49 years and the fall in employment rate for those aged 50 to 64, the employment rate gap between the two age groups has significantly increased from 14.1 percentage points in 2021 to 15.1 percentage points in 2022

  • the employment rate for 50-64 year olds continues to vary by region and country. In 2022, the employment rate for the South East fell for 50-64 year olds, which resulted in the gap between the employment rate in the North East and the South East reducing from 10.0 percentage points in 2021 to 8.2 percentage points in 2022

  • the average age of exit from the labour market has risen for both males and females over the past year. In 2021, the average age of exit for men was aged 65.1 years, increasing by 0.3 years to 65.4 in 2022, this 0.1 years above the 2019 average, and matching the average age of exit in 1970. The 2021 average age of exit for women was 64.0, and increased by 0.3 years to 64.3 in 2022, this equaling the 2019 average

  • being sick, injured or disabled continues to be the main reason why people aged between 50 and 64 years are economically inactive in the labour market (39.1%, or 1.4m), although the number of people in this age group stating retirement as a reason for not seeking work is close behind (33.4% or 1.2m)

  • nearly 760,000 people aged between 50 and 64 years are either actively seeking work, or are inactive but are willing or would like to work, a fall from 810,000 in 2021

3. What you need to know

This is the sixth annual publication on the economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over in the UK. It provides more detailed breakdowns of the labour market outcomes of older workers over time than those routinely published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in their monthly Labour Market Statistics. Previous versions of this publication can be found on the GOV.UK website.

When interpreting results, particularly comparing time periods, users should be aware of the potential effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic between 2020 and 2022. This release covers the period up to April to June 2022.

Latest overall labour market statistics show that the overall unemployment rate, at 3.8%, is now back to pre-pandemic levels, having peaked at 5.2% in Oct-Dec 2020. Since the Spring of 2021, the employment rate has been showing signs of slowly increasing, however, the overall economic inactivity rate is still not showing a sustained fall over the same period.

The Office for National Statistics publish Experimental Statistics from HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) system on the number of payrolled employees. Unlike the Labour Force Survey, which is the data source for this publication, payrolled data do not cover the number of people who are self-employed. The most recent estimate of payrolled employees aged 50 to 64 for July 2022 shows a monthly decrease on the record high in the revised June 2022 figures, down 8,000 to 8 million. Employees aged 65 and over for July 2022 shows a monthly increase, up 3,000 on the revised June 2022 figures, to a record 1.1 million.

In relation to the period covered by the statistics in this release, between May 2021 and May 2022 the number of payrolled employees aged 50 to 64 increased by 190,000 to 8.0 million, whilst the number of employees aged 65 and over increased by 55,000 to 1.1 million.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published three research reports on 14th March 2022 in connection with older people in the labour market and the impact of the pandemic.

Movements out of work for those aged over 50 years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic was based on analysis of the Labour Force Survey and concluded:

  • those aged 50 years and over saw the largest increase of inactive people among all age groups since the start of the pandemic, following a historical downward trend since records began in 1971

  • the number of those aged 50 to 70 years moving from economic activity to inactivity between Quarter 2 (Apr to June) and Quarter 3 (July to September) 2021 was 87,000 higher than in the same period in 2019; this increased flow to inactivity was driven by full-time workers

  • while movements into inactivity have increased for many demographic groups, the number of men aged 50 to 70 years with a degree or equivalent ople moving to inactivity increased by 42,000 between Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 2021 than in 2019

  • professional occupations saw the largest difference for those aged 50 to 70 years, with 30,000 more moving to economic inactivity between Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 in 2021 than in 2019; however, caring, leisure and other service occupations saw the largest proportional difference of 2.9 percentage points (from 3.0% to 6.0%) moving to inactivity in the same period

  • self-employed 50- to 70-year-olds saw a higher movement into economic inactivity in 2020 with 33,000 more moving to economic inactivity between Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 2020 than in 2019; however, movement to economic inactivity has remained above pre-coronavirus levels between Quarter 2 and Quarter 3 2021

Reasons for workers aged over 50 years leaving employment since the start of the coronavirus pandemic described findings from the ‘Over 50s Lifestyle Study’, looking at motivations for those aged 50 to 70 years leaving work during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Great Britain (GB) from March 2020, including why they left and whether or not they intend to return. The findings concluded:

  • the majority (77%) of adults aged 50 to 59 years said they left their previous job sooner than expected compared with 57% of adults aged 60 years and over

  • compared with those aged 60 years and over, adults in their 50s were less likely to leave work for retirement (28%, compared with 56%), and more likely to give stress or mental health (19%, compared with 5%) or a change in lifestyle (14%, compared with 7%) as reasons for leaving work

  • those aged 60 years and over were more likely to be funding their retirement or time out of work from a private pension (66%) than those in their 50s (29%)

  • men were more likely to use savings and investments to fund their retirement (51%) than women (33%), and women were more likely to receive financial support from a partner or family (26%) than men (10%)

  • those in their 50s were more likely to consider returning to work (58%) than those aged 60 years and over (31%)

  • a job that suited their skills and experience was a more important consideration when looking for work for those aged under 60 years (54%) than those aged 60 years and over (38%)

  • those aged under 60 years were more likely to want to return to full-time work (15%), compared with those aged 60 years and over (3%)

  • of those who would consider returning to work, flexible working was the most important aspect of choosing a new job (36%), followed by working from home (18%) and something that fits around caring responsibilities (16%)

  • the majority of those who would consider returning to work or are currently looking for paid work would like to return on a part-time basis (69%); 21% said they would consider returning either part-time or full-time, and 9% said they would like to return full-time

  • among those who have not returned to work, those who left work since the coronavirus pandemic were more likely to have increased worries around finances, such as the cost of living increasing (52%), lack of income or savings (26%), and money (32%), than those who left work before the coronavirus pandemic (44%, 21% and 25%, respectively)

Impact of coronavirus on people aged 50 to 70 years and their employment after the pandemic, described qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews on the Over 50s Lifestyle Study. It looked at the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the lifestyles of people aged 50 to 70 years in Great Britain since March 2020, including their employment status, financial circumstances and health. The findings from this qualitative study showed that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has somewhat affected participants’ decision to leave the labour market.

  • there were participants who retired sooner than they were intending to as they had been made redundant during the pandemic

  • others were put on furlough, and because of this, left their job as a paid employee to become self-employed

  • participants who became self-employed during the pandemic did not intend to return to their previous job, as they preferred the work and flexibility

  • overall, those in our sample generally moved or stayed out of the job market after the pandemic because of complex and interrelated factors, including being unable to find a job, their age, ill health, caring for others, concerns about catching COVID-19, and financial security (for example, from a pension or a spouse’s salary)

  • others returned to part-time work as they needed to top-up their pension and pay for unforeseen costs (for example, needing to relocate because of caring responsibilities)

  • there were female participants who reported being affected by the increase in retirement age from 60 to 66 years; they either lost several years of their pension or had to delay retirement

  • although there were participants whose mental and physical health had been negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic, changes to their health was not cited as a reason for them staying out of work

Recent trends in employment should also be considered in the context of changes to State Pension age (SPa). Since 2010, female SPa gradually increased from 60 years, rising to 65 years by November 2018, at which point it equalled male SPa. In October 2020, SPa for both males and females increased to 66 years and will rise to 67 years by 2028. The 2017 SPa Review outlined a planned increase in SPa to 68 years by the period 2037-2039.

Working age is recognised internationally as people aged 16 to 64 years, whereby the State Pension age in the UK was formerly the upper limit. In order to understand trends over time, this release will continue to report on the 50 to 64 age group. However, data on people aged 50 to 65 years and more detailed tables containing statistics used in this release can be viewed in the tables accompanying this release.

In this report, everybody aged 16 or over is defined as either employed, unemployed or economically inactive. Employed is defined as being in work, including those working part-time and those who are self-employed. Economic inactivity is defined as not working, have not been looking for work within the last 4 weeks or who are unable to start work within the next 2 weeks. Examples of economically inactive people include: people not looking for work because they are students; looking after the family or home; because of illness or disability or because they have retired. Unemployment is defined as not working, have been looking for work within the last 4 weeks and are able to start work within the next 2 weeks. A common misconception is that the unemployment statistics are a count of people on benefits; this is not the case as they include unemployed people not claiming benefits.

4. Average age of exit from the labour market

The average age of exit from the labour market is broken down for men and women due to the historic difference of state pension age for men and women. See What you need to know for further details.

In 1950, the average age of exit of men was aged 67.2 years. The average age of exit for men fell until 1980, when there was a change to the data source. Details of the change can be found in the background information and methodology.

In 2022, the male average age of exit from the labour market was aged 65.4 years, compared to aged 65.1 years in 2021, and 65.3 in 2020, during which time, the State Pension age for men and women increased from 65 to 66 by October 2020, and the Covid-19 pandemic impacted the labour market.

The male average age of exit has increased by 2.4 years since 1996 when it reached its lowest point of aged 63.0 years.

Average age of men and women exiting from the labour market, 1950 to 2022, UK

Source: Table 1 Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

The average age of exit for women in 1950 was aged 63.9 years. It fell and reached its lowest point in 1986 at aged 60.3 years. Since then, the average age of exit for women has increased by 4.0 years to aged 64.3 years in 2022.

Between 2009 (before the change to female SPa) and 2018, when female SPa incrementally increased from aged 60 to 65 years to equal men’s SPa, the average age of exit increased from 62.4 by 1.5 years to 63.9 years. The average age of exit of women continued to increase by 0.4 years to 64.3 years in 2020, when male and female SPa increased to 66.

Since 2021, the female average of exit has increased by 0.3 years to age 64.3 years in 2022, compared to aged 64.0 years in 2021.

5. Employment

The employment rate for people aged 50 to 64 years was 70.7 per cent in the April-June 2022 period. This rate has been increasing steadily since the mid-1990s, when it stood at 57.2 per cent in 1995. In the past year, data shows a continued downward trend from the effects of the pandemic, with the employment rate decreasing by 0.3 percentage points from 71.0 per cent.

The gap between the employment rate of people aged 50 to 64 years and people aged 35 to 49 years was 15.1 percentage points in the April to June 2022 period, a significant increase of 1.0 percentage point in the last year (from 14.1 percentage points in April-June 2021). This gap has widened for both men and women in the last year. The employment rate gap increased by 0.8 percentage points from 15.3 to 16.1 percentage points for men aged 50 to 64 years and men aged 35 to 49. The employment gap increased by 1.2 percentage points from 12.9 to 14.1 percentage points when comparing women aged 50 to 64 years and women aged 35 to 49 years.

Employment rates of people aged 35 to 49 years and people aged 50 to 64 years, UK

Source: Table 2 Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

Over the past ten years, the employment rates for each of the five-year age bands 50 to 54, 55 to 59, and 65 to 69 have shown gradual upward trends. For people aged 60 to 64 years the increase has been much more marked, particularly amongst women (13.5 percentage points). There has been little change in the past year for most five-year age bands, though the employment rate of those 65-69 has seen a marked increase of 2.0 percentage points to 26.0 per cent.

The upward trend of employment rates for people aged 50 to 64 years over the past 25 years has been driven by increases in full-time and part-time employment. Compared with five years ago, in 2022 there are a higher proportion of workers in age 50 to 54, 55 to 59 and 60-64 age bands in full-time employment. However, the recent decrease in employment rates for people aged 50 to 64, appears in part, to be driven by part-time employment rates. Compared to 2017, the proportions of older workers in part-time employment have fallen for those aged 50 to 54 and 55 to 59; and those aged 60-64 show no change. The upward trend of employment rates for people aged 35 to 49 over the past 25 years has been primarily driven by increases in full-time employment, with part-time employment only slightly fluctuating around a constant level up until 2022. A similar pattern is seen in the employment rates for people aged 35 to 49 years when compared with five years ago, full-time employment rates have risen, but part-time employment rates have fallen.

The proportion of people aged 60 to 64 years in full-time employment has risen by 2.0 percentage points compared to 2017, with over one in three people aged 60 to 64 years now in full-time employment (33.8 per cent).

Full-time and part-time employment rates of people aged 35 to 49 years and people aged 50 to 64, UK

Source: Table 4 Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

Women aged 50 to 64 years are considerably more likely than men of the same age to be in part-time employment. Between aged 50 and 54 years, women are more than four times more likely to be employed part-time than men, are twice as likely to be employed part-time for those aged 60 to 64 years, with higher proportions of men moving into part-time work between age 60 and 64.

Full-time employment for people aged 65 and over has increased at a steady, constant rate since 1997. Part-time employment for people aged 65 and over has also increased steadily since 1997. Part-time employment for people aged 65 and over has increased by 0.9 percentage points between 2017 and 2022 (to 7.6 per cent). This increase is driven by an increase of 1.0 percentage point increase for men aged 65 and over working part-time, and an increase of 0.9 percentage point for women aged 65 and over working part-time.

The proportion of people aged 50 to 64 years in self-employment fell from 17.1 per cent (1.6 million) in 2021 to 16.8 per cent (1.6 million) in 2022. Similarly, the proportion of people aged 35 to 49 years in self-employment fell from 13.3 per cent (1.4 million) in 2021 to 12.9 per cent (1.4 million) in 2022.

Employment by industry

Workers aged 50 to 64 years have a broadly similar distribution amongst industry sectors to those aged 35 to 49 years. Older workers are most prevalent in the banking and finance sectors with around one in six older workers employed in these sectors (16.6 per cent). The same is true for people aged 35 to 49 years, but accounts for around one in five those aged 35 to 49 (19.9 per cent).

The sector with the lowest proportion of both age groups is the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, though this is the only sector where older workers have a higher employment level than people aged 35 to 49 years.

The largest proportion of female employment can be seen in the human health and social work activity sector (25.0 per cent), this is followed by the education sector (16.8 per cent), and then the banking and finance sector (15.2 per cent). Similar rates are seen for the highest three proportions of female workers aged 35 to 49 years, with 22.3 per cent employed in the human health and social work activity sector, 19.0 per cent employed in the finance and banking sector, followed by 17.0 per cent in the education sector.

In comparison, older males have a more even distribution across all industry sectors, with banking and finance reporting the highest proportion of male employment aged 50-64 (17.9 per cent), followed by transport and communication (15.6 per cent) and then manufacturing (13.4 per cent).

Men aged 50 to 64 years are twice as likely as women to be employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing, almost three times as likely as women to be employed in manufacturing, more than three times as likely to be employed in the transport and communications sector and five times as likely as women to be employed in the construction sector. These gender trends are not specific to people aged 50 to 64 years and extend to people aged 35 to 49 years. Men aged 35 to 49 are more than twice as likely as women to be employed in manufacturing, more than five times as likely as women to be employed in the construction sector and almost three times as likely to be employed in the transport and communication sector.

Proportions of people aged 35 to 49 years and people aged 50 to 64 years by industry sector, April to June 2022, UK

Source: Table 13 Economic Labour Market Status of Individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

Employment by region / country

Northern Ireland has the lowest employment rate for people aged 50 to 64 years at 63.5 per cent and was significantly lower compared to 71.2 per cent for England. Northern Ireland is also significantly lower than Scotland (69.3 per cent) but is not significantly lower than Wales (69.3 per cent).

Amongst the English regions, the South East has the highest employment rate for people aged 50 to 64 years at 73.9 per cent, while the North East has the lowest at 65.7 per cent.

Although regions have seen changes in the employment rate between 2021 and 2022, these changes are not statistically significant.

In 2022, the employment rate for the South East fell for 50-64 year olds, which resulted in the gap between the employment rate in the North East and the South East reducing from 10.0 percentage points in 2021 to 8.2 percentage points in 2022. Conversely, this trend was not reflected in adults aged 35 to 49. The employment rate for adults aged 35 to 49 in the South East increased resulting in the employment rate gap between the South East and North east increasing from 5.7 to 6.7 percentage points.

There is variation in the employment rate gap between people aged 35 to 49 years and people aged 50 to 64 years across regions and countries. The lowest gap is in the West Midlands (12.7 percentage points), whilst Northern Ireland has the largest gap (18.6 percentage points).

Employment rates of people aged 35 to 49 years and people aged 50 to 64 years by region, April to June 2022, UK

Source: Table 14 - Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

6. Economic inactivity

Alongside a fall of 0.3 percentage points in the employment rate of people aged 50 to 64 between 2021 and 2022, economic inactivity has also seen an increase of 0.9 percentage points. This rise is not statistically significant. The economic inactivity rate for people aged 50 to 64 years overall was 27.4 per cent between April-June 2022 and has been driven by people aged 55 to 59 (risen by 1.2 percentage points to 24.3 per cent in 2022) and 60 to 64 (risen by 1.2 percentage points to 44.3 per cent in 2022). Inactivity has seen increases for both men (risen by 1.0 percentage points to 23.3 per cent in 2022) and women (risen by 0.9 percentage points to 31.4 per cent in 2022).

The economic inactivity rate for all genders aged 50 to 64 has generally been falling steadily since 1986, when it stood at 40.3 per cent. Since 2020 the trend has reversed, and increases have been observed consecutively for the last three years.

Since 1995, the largest percentage point decrease in economic inactivity rates, for the 5-year age bands, has occurred for females aged 60 to 64 years (down by 25.1 percentage points from 74.3 per cent to 49.2 per cent); this corresponds with the increases in employment rates over this time period.

Since the pre-pandemic reporting period in 2019 the inactivity rate for people aged 50 to 64 has risen by 1.9 percentage points from 25.5 per cent. This increase is broadly even across men (rise of 2.0 percentage points from 21.3 per cent in 2019) and women (rise of 1.8 percentage points from 29.6 per cent in 2019). This contrasts to the inactivity rate for people aged 35 to 49, where inactivity is 0.3 percentage points below the 2019 rate (from 12.5 per cent in 2019 to 12.2 per cent in 2022). Gender differences in changes against pre-pandemic period are observed for inactivity for people aged 35 to 49 , where men have seen an increase of 0.9 percentage points between 2019 and 2022 (from 6.5 per cent, to 7.4 per cent) and women have seen a decrease of 1.4 percentage points (from 18.2 per cent, to 16.8 per cent).

Economic inactivity, UK

Source: Table 6 Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

In April to June 2022 there were 3.6 million people aged 50 to 64 economically inactive, 1.5 million of which were men and 2.1 million were women. Of the 3.6 million inactive individuals aged 50 to 64, nearly 2 in 5 (39.1 per cent, 1.4 million) gave the main reason ‘sick or disabled’. This has increased by 1.3 percentage points in the past year. A third gave the reason ‘retired’ (33.4 per cent, 1.2 million), however this has decreased by 1.1 percentage points in the past year.

The remaining inactive people aged 50 to 64 gave ‘looking after home or family’ (14.3 per cent, 0.5 million) or ‘other’ (13.2 per cent, 0.5 million) as main reasons. ‘Looking after home or family’ as a reason for inactivity has increased by 1.3 percentage points since the same period last year, whereas ‘other’ has decreased by 1.6 percentage points.

Examining the rate of economic inactivity with specific reason for 5-year age breakdowns reveals that ‘sick or disabled’ is the most frequent main reason for inactivity for people aged 50 to 54 (rate of 8.8 per cent) and people aged 55 to 59 (rate of 11.2 per cent). Whereas, although the inactivity rate due to ‘sick and disabled’ is proportionally highest (12.4 per cent) for people aged 60 to 64 compared to other age groups, the most common main reason for inactivity for this age group is they are ‘retired’ (rate of 22.2 per cent).

Reasons for not looking for work, individuals aged 50 to 64 who are inactive but are willing or would like to work

In the period April to June 2022, there were 510,000 people aged 50 to 64 years who were economically inactive but were willing to, or would like to, work. Of these, 259,000 were male and 250,000 were female.

Over 3 in 5 who were economically inactive but willing to, or would like to, work gave the reason for not looking for work as ‘being sick, injured or disabled’ (62.6 per cent). This has significantly increased by 9.9 percentage points from 52.7 per cent in the same period in 2021.

‘Looking after home or family’ was given as a reason by 13.1 per cent. This has dropped from 14.6 per cent in the same period in 2021. Over a quarter (24.3 per cent) gave a reason of ‘Other’.

Reasons for not looking for work, individuals aged 50 to 64 who are inactive but are willing or would like to work, UK

Source: Table 12 Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

7. Unemployment

Despite the fall in employment rates for people aged 50 to 64 years, there has been a significant decrease of 0.9 percentage points in their unemployment rate. The latest unemployment rate for this group is 2.6 per cent, compared with 3.5 per cent in 2021.

The unemployment rate for people aged 50 to 64 years follows a similar overall trend to the rate for people aged 35 to 49 years, with both rates tracking very closely since 2014.

Unemployment rate for people aged 35 to 49 years and people aged 50 to 64 years, 1984 to 2022, UK

Source: Table 8 Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

In the early 1990s, the unemployment rate for men aged 50 to 64 years was about 6 percentage points higher than the rate for women aged 50 to 64 years. At this time, women aged 50 to 64 years were more likely than men to be economically inactive. The gender difference in the unemployment rate started to narrow, but fluctuate, from the mid-1990s. For the latest period, April to June 2022, the unemployment rate for men aged 50 to 64 years was 0.2 percentage points higher than the rate for women aged 50 to 64 years.

Reason for leaving last job, people aged 50 to 64 who are not in work, UK

Source: Table 15 Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over statistics.

Of the 2.2 million people aged 50 to 64 years who were not in work in the period April-June 2022 and who had left their last job at some point in the last eight years, over one third (37.0 per cent) gave a reason for leaving their last job as ‘retirement’. This has increased significantly since 2021 (from 34.6 per cent). ‘Health’ is the second largest reason given at 21.9 per cent. Dismissal and redundancy are the third largest reason given and have seen a significant fall of 2.9 percentage points in the last year (from 18.1 per cent to 15.2 per cent). ‘Looking after home or family’ was given by one in ten of those not in work who had left their job in the last eight years and has risen slightly from 2021 (from 9.2 per cent to 9.5 per cent).

8. About these statistics

These Official Statistics have been compiled using data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) which is produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and follow the same definitions and UK coverage used in the ONS Labour Market Statistics bulletin. These statistics have been developed using guidelines set out by the UK Statistics Authority. They continue to be badged as Experimental Official Statistics and include average age of exit from the labour market and in-depth statistics on the employment rate gap between people aged 50 to 64 years and people aged 35 to 49 years. These align with the three headline measures announced in the FWL Strategy 2017. The methodology of using static average age of exit will be considered for future iterations of this release. Please note these statistics are not seasonally adjusted. Users are invited to comment on the development and relevance of these statistics at this stage.

As part of continuing work to improve Labour Force Survey estimates (which have been affected by changes to survey operation caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic), weighting methodology, improving estimates, were implemented with the latest reweighting from 14 June 2022, for periods from January to March 2020 onwards. Find more information on reweighting.

Statistical significance

Statistical significance is a technical concept that states whether or not an estimated value is likely to have arisen only from random variations in the sampling. It is most often used when talking about a change or a difference: a significant change or difference is one that is not likely to be due only to the sampling, and therefore is likely to be a real change/difference.

Changes in levels or rates that have been highlighted in the text of this release are statistically significant at the 95% level, unless stated.

Uncertainty and sample sizes

As the Labour Force Survey (LFS) is a sample surveys, these estimates are subject to an associated sampling error that decreases as the sample size increases. It is the nature of sampling variability that the smaller the group whose size is being estimated, the (proportionately) less precise that estimate is.

To avoid misuse of estimates which are not sufficiently robust, we have applied a reliability threshold of 30 or more people. If an estimate is based on 29 or less survey respondents, we have suppressed and denoted with ‘[u]’.

Where to find out more

For more information on the LFS see the background information and methodology document released alongside these statistics.

This release, the summary tables and background information for the statistics, can be found on the Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over page.

More information about the LFS can be found on the Labour Force Survey (LFS) QMI.

Contact information and feedback

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would like to hear your views on these statistics. We would be interested in hearing what you use them for and how well they meet your requirements as well as interest in extending the analyses to fuller working lives. Feedback and queries about the statistics by e-mailing 50pluschoices.analysis@dwp.gov.uk

Press enquiries should be directed to the DWP Press Office: 020 3267 5144

Lead Statistician: Bryony Maw