Older Workers Labour Market Outcomes
Figure 4: Distribution of weekly hours worked 55 plus versus 15-54, year to March 2007
Figure four outlines the distribution of weekly hours worked for those age 55 years or more versus those worked aged 15 to 54 years for the year ending March 2007. The figure shows that the intensity of work has increased for older workers. Over the past five years, the proportion working 40 hours or more has increased from 56.6% to 59.5%. Conversely, the proportion working part-time has fallen by a similar amount from 29.9% to 26.0%. While this partly reflects the strong demand for labour, the proportion of older workers working 50 hours–plus is higher than the proportion of workers aged 15-54 (19.6% versus 17.8%).