A new report from Legal & General Retail Retirement and the Centre for Economics and Business Research shows that the number of workers over 50 will make up 47% of the workforce by 2030 in the UK.
The ‘Working Late: Over 50s and employment’ report reveals that more people are working later in life, which is being particularly driven by people in their sixties.
The amount of people over 50 in the workforce increased from 31% in 1992 to 42% in 2020, which has led the gap between under 50 workers and over 50 workers to narrow.
Although people are eligible to leave the workforce at 66, which is the State Pension Age, many are continuing to continue working past this. In fact, the report finds that 8% over 66 are currently part of the workforce, and that number is expected to reach a record of 11% by 2030.
“Our research demonstrates a significant cultural shift in the world of work. People are continuing to work for longer, in order to reach their desired retirement lifestyle but also in response to changes in wealth, State Pension provision and to reflect the fact that we are living longer as a society,” said Andrew Kail, CEO of Legal & General Retail Retirement. “This creates a much more challenging hurdle for people to overcome in order to fully retire.”