Over-55s lifting share of jobs in Oz

An article in the Australian quotes some new research by Monash University which has found ageing workers are finding more jobs, while young people are being laid off. In fact people aged over 55 are the only ones in the labour market increasing their rates of employment, even after the economic downturn.

This is of particular interest in Australia which has announced an increase in the state pension age to 67 by 2023. The researchers say that their findings run counter to the argument that it was older workers who were facing the chop in the downturn, and destroyed the argument that extending the pension age to 67 would force people on to the dole.

it is difficult to see how our own G'ment can go on ignoring this issue and their plans to increase pensionable age to 68 by 2038 is now looking totally unrealistic with the huge deficit we have. Is anyone out there or even thinking about this? Just a bit too preoccupied in keeping their own seats at the moment....

More employment data from Australia..

.... which supports the US data which is reiterating that it is the younger age groups who are bearing the brunt of the depression.

Data released by the Bureau of Statistics show that while people aged under 25 lost 91,500 full-time jobs in the year to February, people over 50 added 104,000 full-time jobs.

More unexpectedly, while the number of under-25s who were unemployed or out of the workforce shot up by 129,000 over the year, the number of over-50s unemployed, retired or taking time out shrank by 3000.

That means more older people went back to work over the year — no doubt largely because plunging sharemarket values and interest rates have slashed their life savings and/or retirement income streams.

By February 2009, 30 per cent of men aged 65 to 69 were working, and 58 per cent of those aged 60 to 64. Employment rates were much lower for women, but even so, 14 per cent of women aged 65 to 69 were in work, and 38 per cent of those in their early 60s.

While unemployment rose by 187,000 over the year, the figures show just over half of that was concentrated among the young.

I am still trying to find the equivalent UK statistics which just seem hard to get hold of.

Married men live longer - or - does it just feel longer!

We have know this for some time but the latest research from Australia suggests that the difference is getting smaller.A study of about 3,000 elderly men and women since 1988 found married men lived on average 11 months longer than their single counterparts. But marital status for women made no significant difference to longevity. Epidemiologist John McCallum, of the Victoria University in Melbourne, today said scientists were still speculating about the reasons for the difference. "It's the least successful men who are not married and the most successful women who are not married," Professor McCallum said. "One thought is that it's not so much marriage as the fact that it is the fitter people in a biological sense who get married. In other words, people who are hardier and stronger, who are going to survive longer anyway, get married. It could be that there are beneficial effects of having social support and company as well." Prof McCallum said the study had also found that being a non-drinker, a diabetic, a smoker or having high blood pressure reduced life expectancy. "Over the 15 years, men gained about nine months if they had been drinking moderate alcohol and women about five months," he said. The scientists found the benefits of alcohol consumption accumulate with age. "When we looked at the participants after 10 years, men gained eight months and women three months (over non-drinkers)," said Prof McCallum, who addressed the International Healthy Ageing and Longevity Conference in Brisbane. So - more good reasons for drinking!

And in Australia

Australians have radically changed their attitude to retirement, abandoning the hope of leaving the workforce at age 55 and opting now for an average of 65.1 years.

That was one of the key findings of research presented today at the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia national conference being held in Auckland, New Zealand.

The research, conducted by McNair Ingenuity, also confirmed that people aged between 50 and 65 were more likely to be using a financial planner.

Consistent with other previous research, the McNair data also revealed that people aged over 50 were far more realistic about their likely retirement incomes.