The over-50s have become the most closely watched group in the UK labour market. Their employment rate sits just below its pre-pandemic peak, their economic inactivity accounts for the bulk of the rise in worklessness since 2020, and a persistent thread of survey evidence shows many older people believe their age counts against them when they apply for work. This page gathers the headline numbers for workers aged 50 and over into one fully cited reference: the employment and inactivity rates, how many want a job but are out of work, why people leave early, the average exit age, and what surveys tell us about ageism in recruitment. Every figure comes from a named source — chiefly the Department for Work and Pensions’ annual Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over release, the Centre for Ageing Better’s State of Ageing, the ONS labour market data and the House of Commons Library — with the data period stated alongside it.
Key facts and figures
- 71.6% — the employment rate for people aged 50–64 in 2025, up 0.7 percentage points on the year but still below the 72.6% record high of 2019 (DWP, Sept 2025).
- 26.1% — the economic inactivity rate for 50–64s in 2025 (about 3.5 million people), down 1.2 points on the year but above the 25.5% seen in 2019 (DWP, Sept 2025).
- ~876,000 people aged 50–64 are either actively seeking work or are inactive but would like to work (DWP, Sept 2025).
- 44.7% of economically inactive 50–64s are out of the labour market because they are sick or disabled — the single biggest reason, ahead of “retired” at 29.2% (DWP, Sept 2025).
- 65.8 and 64.7 — the average age of exit from the labour market for men and women in 2025, the highest since ONS records began in 1984 (DWP, Sept 2025).
- 36% of people aged 50–69 believe their age would put them at a disadvantage when applying for jobs (Centre for Ageing Better / NIESR & Demos survey, 2021).
- 68.5% — the share of the total rise in 16–64 economic inactivity since the pandemic that is attributable to rising inactivity among 50–64s (Commons/Lords Library analysis).
- £9 billion a year — the boost to the economy from hitting a 75% employment rate for 50–64s by 2030 (Centre for Ageing Better, State of Ageing 2025).
These figures are the latest available as of July 2026. The main refresh points are the DWP’s annual Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over release each September, the Centre for Ageing Better’s annual State of Ageing, and the ONS A05 age-breakdown dataset, which updates monthly on a rolling three-month basis; this page is updated as new editions land, with all headline figures re-verified each September when the DWP release drops.
What is the employment rate for over-50s in the UK?
The employment rate for people aged 50–64 was 71.6% in 2025, up 0.7 percentage points on the year but still short of the 72.6% record high recorded in 2019, according to the DWP’s Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over (September 2025). The over-50s employment story of the past two decades is one of steady, structural growth interrupted by the pandemic: the rate climbed for years, dipped through 2020–22, and has been clawing its way back since without yet reclaiming its 2019 peak.
Employment among older workers is also markedly uneven across the country. The 50–64 employment rate ranged from 72.4% in England down to 63.5% in Wales in 2025 (DWP, Sept 2025) — a spread of nearly nine percentage points that reflects differences in local industry mix, health and the age profile of each nation’s workforce. The table below sets the headline employment and inactivity picture side by side.
| Measure (ages 50–64) | 2025 | Context / note |
|---|---|---|
| Employment rate | 71.6% | Up 0.7pp year-on-year; below the 72.6% record high of 2019 |
| Economic inactivity rate | 26.1% | Down 1.2pp year-on-year; above 25.5% in 2019 |
| People economically inactive | ~3.5 million | 50–64 age band, 2025 |
| Seeking work or want a job | ~876,000 | Actively seeking, or inactive but would like to work |
| Highest-employment nation | 72.4% (England) | Regional range for 50–64s, 2025 |
| Lowest-employment nation | 63.5% (Wales) | Regional range for 50–64s, 2025 |
The quarterly series behind these annual figures is the ONS’s A05: employment, unemployment and economic inactivity by age group dataset, which is updated monthly on a rolling three-month basis and lets the headline rates be nudged each quarter between the DWP’s annual releases.
How many older workers are economically inactive?
The economic inactivity rate for 50–64-year-olds was 26.1% in 2025 — about 3.5 million people. That is down 1.2 percentage points on the year as the post-pandemic bulge slowly unwinds, but it is still above the 25.5% recorded in 2019, so the group has not yet returned to its pre-pandemic baseline (DWP, Sept 2025). “Economically inactive” is a precise term: it means neither in work nor looking for it, and it should not be read as a measure of who could or wants to work — a distinction the next section unpacks.
The reason older-worker inactivity dominates the national conversation is arithmetic. Rising inactivity among 50–64-year-olds accounted for 68.5% of the total rise in 16–64 economic inactivity since the start of the pandemic, according to analysis drawn together by the House of Commons Library. In other words, more than two-thirds of the extra people who dropped out of the workforce after 2020 were in their fifties and early sixties. That is why so much government policy — from the Work and Health Programme to the WorkWell pilots — is aimed squarely at this age band.
How many older workers are out of work but want a job?
Around 876,000 people aged 50–64 are either actively seeking work or are economically inactive but would like a job (DWP, Sept 2025). That figure matters because it reframes the inactivity numbers: a large slice of the “inactive” 50–64 population is not settled out of the workforce for good, but sits within reach of re-employment if the right role, health support and flexibility were available.
The Centre for Ageing Better’s State of Ageing 2025: Work analysis puts a sharper edge on it: more than half a million people aged 50–65 who are economically inactive say they would like to work, and around 348,000 of them are out of work because of sickness or disability. The health dimension is central to the older-worker story more broadly — of the roughly three million people out of work with a long-term health condition, 53% (about 1.6 million) are aged 50–65 (State of Ageing 2025). Yet support reaches only a fraction of them: only about 1 in 10 (10%) out-of-work 50–64s engage with back-to-work support, and their outcomes are worse than the all-age average (State of Ageing 2025). Where health is the barrier, the duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 is often what determines whether a return to work is realistic; the scale of the health-driven exit also overlaps heavily with the figures on our disability employment gap page.
Why do older workers leave the workforce early?
The top reason older workers are out of the labour market is sickness or disability, not retirement. Among economically inactive 50–64s in 2025, the leading reasons are “sick or disabled” (44.7%), “retired” (29.2%) and “looking after home or family” (13.8%), according to the DWP (Sept 2025). The order is important: the popular image of the comfortably retired early-leaver understates how much of the exit is driven by ill health, which is far harder to reverse and far more responsive to workplace support and adjustments.
The reasons are also strongly gendered. Women aged 50–64 are far more likely than men to be inactive for caring reasons: 18.1% cite “looking after home or family” versus 7.7% of men (DWP, Sept 2025). The Centre for Ageing Better frames the same pattern more starkly across a slightly wider age band: women aged 45–60 are roughly seven times more likely than men to leave work early to provide care (15% versus 2%) (State of Ageing 2025). Caring responsibilities that fall disproportionately on women in their fifties are, in effect, a major cause of early workforce exit — and one reason the topic sits within equality and diversity rather than pensions policy.
Two further structural facts round out the picture. First, people are working later than ever: the average age of exit from the labour market reached 65.8 for men and 64.7 for women in 2025 — the highest since ONS records began in 1984 (DWP, Sept 2025). Second, the State Pension age acts as a sharp cliff-edge: crossing it from 65 to 66 is linked to a 12.8 percentage-point drop in employment and a 13.9-point rise in economic inactivity (DWP, Sept 2025). The detailed mechanics of the State Pension age and retirement finance sit outside this page’s scope, but the labour-market effect of that threshold is unmistakable in the data.
How common is age discrimination in UK recruitment?
More than a third of older people expect their age to count against them when they apply for work. In a survey by the Centre for Ageing Better with NIESR and Demos, 36% of people aged 50–69 said they believed their age would put them at a disadvantage when applying for jobs, and 17% reported direct experience of age discrimination in job applications (survey published 2021). The same research found that nearly a third (29%) of over-50s had been told they were unlikely to succeed in a role because they had “too much experience” — a phrase that functions, in practice, as a proxy for age (Centre for Ageing Better, 2021).
These are self-reported experience and perception figures from a 2021 UK survey, and they should be cited with that year attached rather than presented as current administrative data. It is also worth a word of caution for anyone researching this topic: some of the most widely quoted ageism statistics — such as the “37% experience subtle age discrimination” and “64% have seen or experienced ageism” figures — come from AARP research in the United States and are not UK data. The numbers on this page are UK-only.
Age is one of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, so treating a candidate less favourably because of their age — or applying a recruitment practice that disadvantages older applicants without objective justification — can amount to unlawful direct or indirect discrimination. Age discrimination that reaches the Employment Tribunal is counted separately in the tribunal statistics we track on our workplace discrimination statistics page; the survey figures here measure lived experience and perception rather than formal claims.
Are older workers being left behind on training?
Access to workplace training falls away with age, even as working lives lengthen. The CIPD’s research on the ageing workforce and lifelong learning finds that older workers are consistently less likely than younger colleagues to be offered training or development, despite the average exit age from work now sitting close to 66 for men (CIPD, 2025 fieldwork; DWP, Sept 2025). As careers extend into the late sixties, the gap between how long people work and how long employers invest in their skills becomes a live retention and productivity issue rather than an abstract fairness point.
The economic prize for closing the older-worker employment gap is substantial. The Centre for Ageing Better estimates that hitting a 75% employment rate for 50–64-year-olds by 2030 would generate at least £9 billion a year for the economy and £1.6 billion a year in extra tax and National Insurance (State of Ageing 2025). Reaching that target means retaining and re-employing exactly the workers most likely to leave early — those managing health conditions and caring responsibilities — which is why age-inclusive recruitment, flexible working and reskilling now feature so prominently in employer EDI strategies. For a broader summary of the older-worker landscape, the Centre for Ageing Better’s State of Ageing 2025 summary is the standard overview.
Frequently asked questions
How many older workers (50–64) are out of work in the UK but want a job?
Around 876,000 people aged 50–64 are either actively seeking work or are economically inactive but would like a job (DWP, September 2025). The Centre for Ageing Better’s State of Ageing 2025 adds that more than half a million economically inactive 50–65s say they would like to work, around 348,000 of them held back by sickness or disability.
What is the employment rate for over-50s in the UK?
The employment rate for people aged 50–64 was 71.6% in 2025, up 0.7 percentage points on the year but still below the 72.6% record high reached in 2019 (DWP, September 2025). It ranged from 72.4% in England down to 63.5% in Wales.
Why do older workers leave the workforce early?
The leading reason is ill health, not retirement: among economically inactive 50–64s in 2025, 44.7% were “sick or disabled”, 29.2% “retired” and 13.8% “looking after home or family” (DWP, September 2025). Women are far more likely than men to leave for caring reasons — 18.1% versus 7.7%.
How common is age discrimination in UK recruitment?
In a 2021 UK survey by the Centre for Ageing Better with NIESR and Demos, 36% of people aged 50–69 believed their age would disadvantage them when applying for jobs, 17% reported direct experience of age discrimination in applications, and 29% had been told they had “too much experience” for a role.
What is the average age people stop working in the UK?
The average age of exit from the labour market reached 65.8 for men and 64.7 for women in 2025 — the highest since ONS records began in 1984 (DWP, September 2025). Crossing the State Pension age from 65 to 66 is linked to a 12.8 percentage-point drop in employment.
Related guides
- Disability Employment Gap Statistics UK: Rates, Pay Gap & Trends
- Workplace Discrimination Statistics UK: Tribunal Claims, Prevalence & Protected Characteristics
- Menopause in the Workplace Statistics UK
- Equality Act 2010: The Complete UK Guide
- The Nine Protected Characteristics Under the Equality Act 2010
Sources & references
- DWP — Economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over, trends over time (September 2025)
- Centre for Ageing Better — The State of Ageing 2025: Work
- Centre for Ageing Better — The State of Ageing 2025: Summary
- ONS — A05 SA: Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity by age group (dataset)
- ONS — Employment in the UK bulletin (December 2025)
- CIPD — Understanding the ageing workforce / lifelong learning (2025)
- Centre for Ageing Better / NIESR & Demos — Ageism in recruitment survey (2021)
- House of Commons Library — Why have older workers left the labour market?
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Mark writes about equality, diversity and inclusion, UK workplace compliance and accredited online training for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Training, part of Online CPD Academy.