Broad Industry

Table 1 shows the number of older persons employed in 2005 and their growth between 1997 and 2005, compared with the whole working population.

The largest employer of older workers among the seven broad industry groups identified is government, accommodation and community services (179,000 older persons employed in 2005). This is followed by wholesale & retail trade, and manufacturing, employing 71,000 each. These three groups combined employed 64.9% of all older workers.

The industries in which older workers were most over-represented were government, accommodation and community services (36.3% of older workers versus 32.9% of the total labour force) followed by primary (9.4% of older workers versus 7.4% of the total labour force). The industry in which older workers were most under-represented was wholesale and retail trade (14.3% of older workers versus 17.5% of the total labour force). The results for the primary industry probably reflect the high proportion of older people in farming-related occupations such as livestock farming, with farming-related work tending to feature strongly in many studies of older workers in New Zealand. For example, cattle farmers and deer farmers featured among the occupations with the oldest age profile in the 2001 census.

Industry Growth Trends

Table 1 also looks at growth rates for older workers compared with all workers between 1997 and 2005. Over this period the economic cycle moved from a recession towards a strong economic upturn.^[8] Between 1997 and 2005 the older workforce grew rapidly, with the number of older workers increasing by more than half (50.7%) compared with an overall increase in the size of the labour force of 17.1%. This has resulted in an increasing proportion of older workers in all major industries.

The industries experiencing the fastest growth in older workers were government, accommodation, and community services with employment growing by 73.4% between 1997 and 2005 compared with an increase of 27.7% of the whole population. Next fastest growing was finance and business services (68.3% against an overall increase of 22.9%). In the primary sector, the 50-64 year age group experienced a 29.0% increase in employment, in contrast to an actual fall in total employment in this industry of 0.7%.

Manufacturing employment among the 50-64 year age group grew strongly by nearly 40% despite a slight contraction in total employment in this industry over this period. This suggests that manufacturing along with agriculture is the fastest ageing industry, and it is also one of the most vulnerable in terms of sudden "employment shocks" such as mass layoffs. Given that older workers are at greater risk of long-term unemployment, their growing concentration in an industry like manufacturing with declining employment is therefore of concern.

Broad occupations

Source: HLFS. Note the overall total exceeds the combined occupation and industry groups due to a residual group with no recorded occupation/industry.

Table 2 shows that the most common occupation groups for older workers were professionals followed by legislators, administrators and managers (together employing 31.9% of all older workers). The occupations in which older workers were most over-represented were legislators, administrators and managers (14.9% of older workers versus 12.2% of the total labour force) followed by agriculture and fishery workers (9.3% of older workers versus 7.4% of the total labour force) and professionals (17.0% versus 15.2%).

The occupation group where older workers were most under-represented was service and sales workers, (11.8% of older workers versus 15.8% of all workers). This group is a very large and varied grouping of occupations often associated with the retail and tourism sectors. Some examples from the 2001 census of the type of occupations in this group experiencing a low percentage of older workers include waiters and café workers.

There is also a relatively low proportion of persons aged 50-64 in the trades. This is perhaps surprising, given that severe skill shortages may be one of the reasons for the growth in the number of older workers. In 2005, the Department of Labour estimated that only 37% of trade vacancies were filled within ten weeks of advertising. Many occupations surveyed by the Department (such as plumbers and metal workers) showed evidence of an ageing workforce struggling to attract sufficient numbers of younger workers. Contrary to expectations, in elementary occupations where more physical work tends to be required, older workers were only slightly underrepresented (employing 5.8% of older workers versus 6.3% of the total labour force).

Overall, older workers appear well represented in the highly skilled occupations (managers and professionals). Generally they are slightly over-represented in the "white collar" jobs (defined as the first five occupation groups shown), but the difference is not large. This may reflect the increasing likelihood of those with qualifications remaining in employment, but also the efforts of sectors such as health which have been active in seeking to retain older aged workers.

Occupational growth trends

The occupations that have experienced the fastest growth over this period among older workers are professionals, followed by service and sales workers. Growth in older workers in these occupational groups was well above the growth experienced among older workers overall. The area that has seen the slowest growth has been elementary occupations, with only a 21.9% increase.

While there has been very strong growth among older workers in the "white collar" occupations it is notable that there has been considerable growth in three relatively slow growing occupational groups. These include elementary occupations, clerks, and agriculture and fisheries workers.

In summary, it is difficult to detect any large imbalance in the employment of older workers by industry and occupation at this very broad level. Older workers are well represented in the primary industry, which is well recognised and shown in other sources such as Census 2001. Many blue collar and service-oriented jobs appear to employ a slightly lower proportion of older workers, which may not be surprising given the greater physical labour involved in these jobs. A more detailed look at occupations where there is an ageing workforce follows.