A closer look at the over-50s

This chapter documents labour market and retirement patterns among the over-50s. It first shows that employment of older adults varies substantially across socio-economic groups. Lifelong learning opportunities and inclusive labour markets are essential to ensuring that workers of all educational backgrounds have the possibility of extending their careers until older ages. The chapter then demonstrates that there is a large scope for higher labour force participation rates among the over-50s from a health perspective. Beyond health, other factors, including pension system parameters and difficult working conditions, contribute to the strong drop in employment rates in people’s 50s and early 60s. Pension systems need to be well-designed and inclusive to fight old-age poverty effectively. The level of safety net provision in pension systems varies considerably across OECD countries.