More and more people working after retirement age

An increasing number of people are working after reaching the state pension age. In the second quarter of this year, there were 152,000 such employees, compared to 96,000 at the beginning of 2018, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). The percentage of post-retirement-age workers rose from 1.2 to 1.7 percent in that period.

Men are more likely to keep working past retirement age than women. In the second quarter, 2.3 percent of all male employees were past the state pension age, compared to 1.1 percent of female employees.

The real estate sector, covering both property rentals and sales, has a relatively high proportion of older workers at 4.3 percent. The government sector has the lowest share, at 0.6 percent.

People also often change professions after reaching the state pension age. In the second quarter, nearly 21,000 employees above that age moved into a different industry.

A majority of those who leave their jobs after reaching the state pension age retire, but 9 percent go on to work in a different sector.