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The Decline of Employment Among Older People in Britain

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  • Nigel Campbell

Abstract

Older men have experienced the largest falls in employment over the last twenty years. Two-fifths of men aged between 55 and 65 are without work, compared to one-fifth in 1979, equivalent to 600,000 fewer jobs. Older women have not shared in the general rise of female employment. This paper analyses the Labour Force Survey and the first six waves of the British Household Panel Survey to examine why older people's employment has fallen, which groups have been most affected, and whether these trends are likely to continue. The people most likely to leave the labour market are either (a) in the bottom quartile of the wage distribution or (b) with wages in the top half but who are also members of an occupational pension scheme. Once displaced, few older people return to work. There are instead significant transitions between unemployment, long-term sickness and retirement, almost always weakening attachment to the labour market. Furthermore, falling male employment seems to be part of an ongoing trend, rather than simply affecting one unfortunate generation.

Suggested Citation

  • Nigel Campbell, 1999. "The Decline of Employment Among Older People in Britain," CASE Papers 019, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:sticas:019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Haardt, David, 2007. "Older couples’ labour market reactions to family disruptions," ISER Working Paper Series 2007-08, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    2. Irene Hardill, 2003. "Growing Old in England: Economic and Social Issues," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 18(4), pages 337-346, November.
    3. Haardt, David, 2006. "Transitions out of and back to employment among older men and women in the UK," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-20, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Allen, J.P. & de Grip, A., 2007. "Skill Obsolescence, Lifelong Learning and Labor Market Participation," ROA Research Memorandum 006, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    5. David Black & Yi-Ping Tseng & Roger Wilkins, 2011. "Do changes in demographic characteristics explain declining male employment rates? Examination of the Australian case using a propensity score re-weighting decomposition approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(28), pages 4215-4226.
    6. David Black & Yi-Ping Tseng & Roger Wilkins, 2009. "Examining the Role of Demographic Change in the Decline in Male Employment in Australia: A Propensity Score Re-weighting Decomposition Approach," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2009n24, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    7. Kerry Platman, 2004. "‘Portfolio Careers’ and the Search for Flexibility in Later Life," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 18(3), pages 573-599, September.
    8. Elena Bardasi & Stephen P. Jenkins, 2010. "The Gender Gap In Private Pensions," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 343-363, October.
    9. Colin Duncan, 2003. "Assessing Anti-ageism Routes to Older Worker Re-engagement," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 17(1), pages 101-120, March.
    10. Clive Collis & Anne Green & Tony Mallier, 2000. "Older Female Workers in Britain and its Regions," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 15(1), pages 45-58, May.
    11. John Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn & Georgi Tsertsvardze, 2010. "Hiring older workers and employing older workers: German evidence," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 595-615, March.
    12. Christina Beatty & Stephen Fothergill & Rob Macmillan, 2000. "A Theory of Employment, Unemployment and Sickness," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(7), pages 617-630, October.
    13. Daniel, Kirsten & Heywood, John S., 2007. "The determinants of hiring older workers: UK evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 35-51, January.
    14. Richard Blundell & Costas Meghir & Sarah Smith, 2002. "Pension Incentives and the Pattern of Early Retirement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(478), pages 153-170, March.
    15. Ian Roberts, 2006. "Taking age out of the workplace: putting older workers back in?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(1), pages 67-86, March.
    16. D Leslie & D Blackaby & P Murphy & N OLeary, 2009. "The Employment and Earnings of Britains Senior Citizens," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 14(2), pages 1-26, September.
    17. Michael P. Kidd & Renuka Metcalfe & Peter J. Sloane, 2012. "The determinants of hiring older workers in Britain revisited: an analysis using WERS 2004," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 527-536, February.

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    Keywords

    labour force participation; older workers;

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