Out of a job early

ONLY 44.5 per cent of the over-55s are still working in Spain, the Institute for Economic Studies revealed. Using information from the EU statistics agency, Eurostat, the IEE found that only half of EU residents aged between 55 and 64 had jobs in 2011. Although the average has increased in recent years, no more than 47.4 per cent of people in that age group remained employed last year.

This rose to 72.3 per cent in Sweden and 59.9 per cent in Germany. In Denmark 59.5 per cent of over-55s had jobs, followed by Estonia (57.2 per cent) and Finland (57 per cent).  Not only Spain failed to reach the EU average but also Bulgaria, where 43.9 per cent still worked, France (41.5 per cent), Austria (41.4 per cent) and Slovakia (40 per cent). Slovenia had the lowest number of employed over-55s, with just 31.2 per cent.