Employment patterns among Japan’s older population are rapidly diversifying by age group and gender. The data show employment rates of 73.0% among people in their early 60s and 25.2% among those aged 65 and over.
According to Labour Force Survey data cited in the 2025 edition of the White Paper on the Ageing Society, the employment rate among people in their early 60s was 73.0%, while the rate for those aged 65 and over was 25.2%, indicating that receiving a pension while continuing to work has become commonplace. The rise in the number of older people remaining in employment is attributed in part to growing expectations that companies will make use of older workers.
The employment rate was 54.9% among people in their late 60s and 35.6% among those in their early 70s, meaning that some groups are well above the average for people aged 65 and over. The estimates indicate that roughly 1 in 2 people in their late 60s and 1 in 3 people in their early 70s are working, while the employment rate tends to decline with age.
Differences by gender are also noteworthy, reflecting the lower employment rates among women in the generations that have already entered retirement. Men’s employment rates remain high, at 84.0% in their early 60s, 62.8% in their late 60s and 43.8% in their early 70s.
Nationwide, approximately 1 in every 7.4 people in work is said to belong to the pension-age population, illustrating how continuing to work after the mandatory retirement age has become commonplace.