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Employment rates by age group
The employment rates in this chapter show the percentage of persons of working age who are in employment, broken down into three age groups. The youngest age group contains persons who are just entering the labour market, the second group those in their prime working lives, and the third group those who are approaching retirement.
Employment rates in these different age groups are significantly affected by government policies with regard to higher education, pensions and retirement age.
Definition
To calculate the employment rate for a given age group, the total population in that age group is divided between those in employment and those who are not. The numbers in employment are then expressed as a percentage of the total numbers in that age group.
Employment is generally measured through household labour force surveys and, according to the ILO Guidelines, employed persons are defined as those aged 15 or over who report that they have worked in gainful employment for at least one hour in the previous week. Those not in employment consist of persons who are out of work but seeking employment, students and all others who have excluded themselves from the labour force for one reason or another, such as incapacity or the need to look after young children or elderly relatives.
Comparability
All OECD countries use the ILO Guidelines for measuring employment, but the operational definitions used in national labour force surveys vary slightly in Iceland and Turkey. Employment levels are also likely to be affected by changes in the survey design and/or the survey conduct, but employment rates are likely to be fairly consistent over time.
For the denominators – the population in each age group – the data are taken from labour force surveys.
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Long-term trends In general, employment rates for those in the prime age group – 25 to 54 – are very similar between countries with ratios for most countries over 70% in 2005. Rates are most variable between countries for those in the youngest age group where, in 2005, they ranged from under 25% in Poland and Luxembourg to over 60% in the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia and Iceland. Employment rates for the oldest age group also vary considerably between countries, with more than 60% of this age group in employment in 2004 in Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Japan and the United States but less than 30% employed in Poland. Over the period 1992-2005, employment rates for the youngest age group have been falling for the OECD as a whole. This partly reflects government policies to encourage young people to increase their educational qualifications, but the falls have been particularly marked in countries where total employment rates have been falling, such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey; when the labour market is tight, young people have particular difficulties in finding employment. For those in the prime working age group – 25 to 54 – employment rates have remained stable for the OECD as a whole, but there were significant falls in the employment rates for Turkey, Poland and Czech Republic and large gains in Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands. Persons in the top age group have fared particularly well overall, with the largest increases in employment rates for New Zealand, the Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Slovak republic and Czech Republic. |
Source
- OECD (2006), OECD Employment Outlook, OECD, Paris.
Further information
Analytical publications
- Burniaux, J.-M., R. Duval and F. Jaumotte (2004), Coping with Ageing, OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 371, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2000), From Initial Education to Working Life: Making Transitions Work, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2006), Ageing and Employment Policies, OECD, Paris.
Statistical publications
- OECD (2004), Quarterly Labour Force Statistics, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2006), Labour Force Statistics, OECD, Paris.
Websites
- OECD Labour Statistics Database, www.oecd.org/statistics/labour.
- OECD Ageing and Employment Policies, www.oecd.org/els/employment/olderworkers.
- NERO Meeting on Labour Market Issues, Paris, 25 June 2004, www.oecd.org/eco/nero.
- Youth Employment Summit, www.yesweb.org.
| Texts | |
| • | Indicator web page |
| • | Indicator in PDF |
| Tables (xls) | |
| • | Employment rates for age group 15-24 |
| • | Employment rates for age group 25-54 |
| • | Employment rates for age group 55-64 |
| Graphics | |
| • | Employment rates for age group 15-24 |
| • | Employment rates for age group 25-54 |
| • | Employment rates for age group 55-64 |
Employment rates for age group 15-24
Employment rates for age group 25-54
Employment rates for age group 55-64
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