Workers of retirement age and older will account for more than a fifth of the labour force in coming decades, projections released today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show.The latest mid-range labour force projection showed the proportion of workers age
Workers of retirement age and older will account for more than a fifth of the labour force in coming decades, projections released today by Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show.
The latest mid-range labour force projection showed the proportion of workers aged 65 and over was expected to peak at 23 percent in 2028, up from 6 percent in 1991 and 12 percent in 2006.
An expected 240,000 workers will be of retirement age and older in 2031, up from 25,000 in 1991 and 62,000 in 2006.
That number will rise to 300,000 during the late 2050s, with 21 percent of workers expected to be 65 or older in 2061.
However, the number of people aged 65 and over who are not in the labour force will almost double in coming decades, reaching an estimated 830,000 in 2031 and 1.13 million in 2061 -- up from 450,000 in 2006.
SNZ population statistics manager Denise McGregor said the number of people in the workforce of retirement age and older was "increasing significantly".
"This is a direct result of changing attitudes to retirement and increased flexibility in the retirement age, along with increasing life expectancy and well-being in the older ages," she said.
"The updated projections continue to confirm the increasingly important role of the older labour force in the future labour market."
Half the labour force will be older than 42 next year, compared with a median age of 40 in 2006 and 36 in 1991.
The total labour force was expected to increase, to an estimated 2.75m in 2031 and 3m in 2061, up from 2.24m at June 2006.
However, labour force growth over the next five years was expected to slow from an average of 38,000 a year between 2006 and 2011, to 23,000 between 2011 and 2016.
Growth would continue to slow in coming decades, with an average growth of 5000 a year between 2056 and 2061.
The projections took into account all people aged 15 years and over who regularly worked for pay for an hour or more each week, or worked without pay in a family business, or were unemployed and actively seeking work.
