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    A recent BBC documentary,The Town That Never Refiredsought to show the effects of increasing the state pension age by putting retirees back to work.

    Although the documentary was fun, they need not have bothered. Away from the cameras, a great numbers of older people are staying in work. Since the start of the economy declines that began in 2008. the number of 16-to 24-year-olds in work has fallen by 597,000. Over the same period the number of workers over the age of 65 has increased by 240, 000.

    The graying of the British workforce dates back to around 2001 since when the proportion of older people working has nearly doubled. But it has accelerated since the start of the economy declines.

    There are several reasons why. Happily, people are living longer and healthier lives, which makes staying in work less discouraging than it was. Less happily, low interest rates, a disappointing stock market and the end of many defined-benefit(固定收益)pension schemes make it a financial necessity. And changing attitudes, inspired by rules against age discrimination, are makingiteasier than ever.

    Most older workers are simply hanging on at the office: 63% of workers over state pension age have been with their employer for more than ten years. Over two-thirds of them work part-time, mostly doing jobs that they once performed full-time. A big advantage is that they need not pay national insurance contributions.

    According to Stephen McNair, director of the Centre for Research into the Older Workforce the flexibility explains why older workers have not suffered so much in the period of economy decline Instead of cutting back on the workforce, as in previous depression, many firms have stopped taking on new workers and cut working hours. At small businesses m particular, keeping on older workers is cheaper and less risky than training replacements. Over half of workers overstate pension age work for businesses with fewer than 25 employees.

    Christopher Nipper, who owns David Nipper, a women's wear manufacturer based in Derbyshire, prizes his semi-retired workers, who can be employed at short notice and do not need to work full-time to survive. Retired machinists can fill in if there is a rise in orders; former sales advisers can work as part-time consultants. As his competitors have moved production abroad, leaving the pool of trained labor behind, continuing to have older workers and their skills has become even more important.

    There is a tendency for the older workforce to expand• Workers over the age of 50 who are made unemployed find it harder to pick up new jobs, which could mean that more of them want to work than are able to. The Office for Budget Responsibility, the fiscal watchdog, reported on July 12th that an ageing, unproductive population is the biggest long-term threat to Britain's economic health.

    Data from the OECD, a think-tank, shows that employment rates among workers approaching retirement age are split in Europe, with old workers hanging on best in the north. Government credit ratings follow a similar pattern. That Britain's ageing workforce more closely resembles Germany's than Italy's could prove the country's being saved from harm.

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