Twitter

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

United Kingdom: Participation in Defined Benefit Schemes Falls, Retirement Age Rises

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported that membership of employer-sponsored defined benefit pension schemes fell from 39% 35% of employees between 2004 and 2005--down from 46% in 1997, when recordkeeping began. Membership of defined contribution schemes increased from 10% to 15% of the working-age population between 1997 and 2005, driven by increases in membership of group personal and stakeholder pensions.

The ONS publication Pension Trends has been updated to reflect this data. In addition, it shows that the average age at which male and female workers withdraw from the labour force is rising. In 2006, it was 64.2 years for men, the highest level since 1984, when data first became available. The average age for women was 61.8 years, the second-highest
on record.

In addition, employment rates of older men and women rose in spring 2006 to the highest levels since comparable records began in 1984. For men aged from 50 to under 65, the employment rate was 72.6% and for women aged from 50 to under 60, it was 67.9%. For men over that state pension age, the employment rate was 9.6% and for women, 11.1%.

Source: National Statistices News Release (Decenber 5, 2006)

No comments: