Pensioners come of age in world of work

More pensioners are opting to carry on working, forming a veritable army of people over 60 who are still contributing to the economy.

While 10 years ago almost none of the country’s pensioners kept a job after reaching retirement age, by last year 14.2 per cent of those aged 60-64 years were still in employment while 3.5 per cent of those over 65 also had a job.

Malta, however, still has a long way to go to reach the old-age employment levels of the rest of the EU. The average number of workers in the 60-64 age cohort with a job in the bloc is more than twice Malta’s, at 30.5 per cent, Eurostat’s data show.

On the other hand, Malta has almost reached the EU’s average in the 65 and over age bracket, which stands at 4.7 per cent.

According to Eurostat, employment of the older EU population has increased strongly over the last decade. While the employment rate of those aged 20-64 increased by 2.1 percentage points, in the older age groups the rise was far sharper: 10.6 per cent for those aged 55-59 and by 7.5 per cent for 65s and older.

The shift comes in the wake of incentives introduced over the last few years intended to boost the number of working pensioners.

3.5%

The number of people aged over 65 who are still working

In Malta, until a few years ago, there were no incentives to keep on working after reaching retirement age. Pensioners actually had to forgo their pension if they held on to their job.

This has now changed, with the elderly allowed to keep receiving their full pension if they choose to continue working.