Week 24, 2013: Employment by Age Group

Summary: Labour market statistics released this week show that unemployment is down by 5,000 people (but remains at 7.8%). However, they also showed that there are now more than 1 million over 65s in employment for the first time since the records began. We've compared that with how the 16-24 age group has fared over the past 18 years.

What does the chart show? The chart shows the total number of people in employment over the previous three months in thousands. The blue line represents the over 65 age group, measured against the left hand axis, and the red line represents the 16-24 age group, measured against the right hand axis.

Why is the chart interesting? Between 1995 and 2001, there was not much change for either group in terms of total employment. Then there was a period of employment growth from 2001 to 2008, in which employment in both age groups grew at roughly the same speed. However, the two age groups were clearly affected in starkly different ways by the financial crisis in 2008, with the number of employed 16 to 24 year olds falling by 400,000 initially, and then by a further 200,000 before recovering somewhat. In contrast, employment of the over 65s has, if anything, sped up since the crisis, reaching the landmark of 1,000,000 at some point over the past month.