More than half of individuals between 60 and 64 years outdated work: the very best fee for the reason that Nineteen Seventies | Economy | EUROtoday

The will increase in life expectancy and higher well being of the aged, in addition to the delay within the retirement age and the incentives to delay their working life, are starting to translate right into a actuality: increasingly individuals proceed working after the age of 60. Specifically, in Spain, 53% of those that had been between 60 and 64 years outdated in 2025 had been nonetheless working, the very best fee since that reached by males within the Nineteen Seventies.

The newest evaluation on the social scenario ready by the Funcas research workplace attracts consideration to the info, additionally indicating that the truth of girls is what explains to a better extent the rise within the fee. The international determine for individuals of that age group working (women and men) was final yr at 53%, the very best in 45 years (since 1980). The share remains to be removed from the employment fee recorded by Spanish males in 1970, when 72% of employees of that age had been nonetheless lively. This leads the authors of the evaluation to affirm that the variety of older individuals working is the very best for the reason that Nineteen Seventies, since they examine the present joint fee of lively women and men solely with the male fee of the Nineteen Seventies, since then the presence of older girls within the labor market was nearly symbolic, barely 10%.

In this fashion, the feminine employed fee between 60 and 64 years outdated has been the one which has pushed the worldwide fee probably the most as much as the present determine. If you look solely at them, the proportion has gone from 10% in 1970 to the present historic most of 48%. In the identical interval, that of males has gone from exceeding 70% to 58% in 2025, the research highlights.

Funcas economists have additionally noticed that in 2025, employed individuals aged 65 to 69 additionally reached their most share. 14% of the inhabitants of this age continued to work, the very best fee since 1981, though nonetheless beneath the 18% in 1970. In this age group it’s as soon as once more important to have a look at the evolution of feminine employment. The present fee of 11% is the very best since 1970, when it didn’t attain 5%.

“Firstly, in the case of women, it is a consequence of their increasing incorporation into the labor market for decades. Secondly, for both men and women, it is the result of a longer life expectancy and better health at older ages, together with the lower physical demands of the average job. And thirdly, in many countries it is a result of the postponement of the retirement age, one of the usual measures to address financial imbalances, present or future, of public pension systems,” explains María Miyar, director of Social Studies of Funcas.

General scenario within the EU

Thus, this evolution shouldn’t be one thing unique to Spain. The evaluation determines that if the evolution of employment charges for these aged 60 to 64 and people aged 65 to 69 is in contrast from the start of the twenty first century to the current, an analogous and generalized habits is confirmed all through the EU. Specifically, the employment of males aged 60 to 64 has grown in all EU nations besides Romania, and it has completed so in a really notable manner.

In seven nations they exceeded 70% in 2025, highlighting the Netherlands, with 77%. The Spanish male employment fee in 2000 was 39% and occupied seventh place, however the normal improve within the EU has been extra intense, which is why it has at the moment fallen to place 19, regardless of having elevated to 58%.

For its half, the employment fee of girls aged 60 to 64 has additionally grown considerably all through the EU, once more aside from Romania, though solely in half of the circumstances have the gaps with male charges been lowered. In the Spanish case, this method to the male fee has been evident, going from 15% of working girls aged between 60 and 64 years in 2000 to 48% at the moment. Their place within the European classification was comparable at each occasions, roughly half of the desk.

In Spain, employment at older ages has not stopped rising, particularly since 2013, coinciding with the restoration from the monetary disaster, the start of the progressive delay of the retirement age from 65 to 67 years (accredited in 2011) and the pension reform that tightened early retirements. In any case, the authors of the work guarantee that “the Spanish employment rates of the elderly population are today at low or medium-low levels at EU level, which suggests that they still have some way to go.”

The margin to extend the participation of the aged will likely be given, in line with analysts, as the results of the aforementioned modifications within the pension system which have been registered for greater than a decade take maintain. With them, “the fall (in the employment rate) between the 60 to 64 age group and the 65 to 66 age group should be considerably softened.” The fall noticed by Funcas is materialized in the truth that at age 60, the male fee within the first quarter of 2025 was 71%, however at age 64 it had already fallen to 37.5%, and at age 69 it was lowered to testimonial 5.5%. The identical occurred to the feminine fee: from the present 55.5% at age 60 to 2.8% at age 69, passing by means of 31.6% at age 64, the authors enchantment for better use of part-time work because the employee’s age will increase to hold out a greater transition to inactivity.