(a) The industrial history of old persons employed in 1945

The material presented in the following paragraphs is based on a recording schedule which was completed in the following way. Each old person still in employment who was interviewed as part of the smaller sample of 931 was asked to recall in chronological order the occupations he or she had followed, the industries they were in, age of entry and leaving, and reasons for both. The span of working life, number of occupations and industries, and length of time in last occupation, were computed from this record. Analyses showing the effects of increasing age were obtained by classifying all the remaining data at 5 yearly intervals from the age of 15 onwards. In this way a series of figures were built up and they are presented with the tables in the appendix. These analyses are only as accurate as the memory and patience of the old people would permit, but the broad outline is clear.

The mean number of years worked by old persons still in employment in 1945 was 50. The mean number of years worked by men was 52 and by women 39. In calculating the total number of years worked by women any period they had worked as housewives was excluded. Periods of unemployment were included in the number of years worked by both men and women, however. Old persons in employment, particularly those over 65 must be regarded as a residual group. Therefore the mean number of years worked may approach the maximum number of years of working life to be expected from any considerable proportion of the working population under the present working conditions, economic pressure and mortality rates. Changes in any of these factors may either lengthen or reduce the mean working life. (27). (28).

The fact that women have a shorter working life on the average than the men underlines the fact that many come back into employment in middle age and later, mainly to become operatives in the distributive trades and personal services, cleaners, or, in the case of a small proportion, clerks or self-employed. +

An occupational analysis shows that men in the clerical, professional, and managerial groups had had a shorter working life than operatives and labourers. 29% of all old persons had had a working life of 55 years or over, compared with 17% of those in the clerical and other non-manual occupations, who, as was shown earlier, ++ form a greater proportion of employed old people than of the general population.

As an indication of occupational mobility a record was made of the length of time each old person had spent in the occupation he or she followed at the time of the inquiry. It is only a broad indication of mobility, however, since occupation was coded in wide groups as in the preceding sections. Thus a man may have been a labourer of many different types but he has been classed only as a labourer. The general suggestion is that most old persons in employment in 1945 had followed their existing occupation for a considerable number of years. Men had worked an average of 28 years and women an average of 25 years in that occupation.

The mean number of years spent in their existing occupation by men over 65 was greater in proportion to their working lives than the mean number of years spent in their existing occupations by men 60-64. Since there is no particular period corresponding to middle age in which considerable numbers of men entered their occupation it is possible that a higher proportion of men over 65 than under 65 had been in their occupation for a long time. This would imply that the longer a person has been in an occupation the more likely it is that he or she will go on working into old age. The self-employed had remained in employment in the one job longer than any except the skilled operatives most of whom would have been in the some occupation since apprenticeship.

11% of all old persons had entered their 1945 occupation in the four years preceding that date, and this may reflect the extent of movement of old persons caused by the war. No occupation group can be singled out as having attracted more old persons than average, but the percentage becoming self-employed was definitely lower than in preceding years: 1% had become employed 1941-1945 compared with 8% in a previous five year period and 10% in a five year period before that. This suggests that the contraction of the distributive trades reduced the number of old persons who would otherwise have become self-employed. (29).

Old people appear to have been employed in their 1945 industry longer, on the average, than in their pre-1945 occupation. The mean number of years old people had spent in their industry was 31. The mean number of years among men was 32 and among women 28. Nearly a third of all old persons in the manufacturing industries had entered them in the nine years preceding 1945. Almost as high a proportion had entered a combined group of other industries, (such as Building and Contracting, Commerce and the Professions and Miscellaneous Industries), Agriculture, Mining and Quarrying, (mainly Agriculture), contained the greatest proportion of old people who had been in an industry most of their lives. 42% had been in this industrial group 50 years or more, and the mean number of years spent in it was 42. (30).

It is possible to consider occupational and industrial mobility not only in terms of the length of time old people have spent in an occupation but also by calculating the number of broad occupational and industrial groups they have been engaged in during their working lives. A fifth of all old people had been in the same occupation group all their lives, and a further two-fifths had been in only two occupation groups. Only just over 10% had been in four or more occupation groups. Women appear to have moved between different occupation groups rather less frequently than men. Age had little effect on the number of occupation groups followed and it would seem therefore that such movement as had taken place had done so before the age of 60. A distribution showing the number of industries in which old persons had been engaged follows roughly the same pattern as that of occupations, although a higher proportion of old persons, 35%, had been in one industry only during their working lives. (31). (32).

The past industrial and occupational mobility of old persons still in employment would appear from the foregoing data to be low. It is possible that the slightly greater occupational mobility was due to movement within industry on promotion or for other reasons. It has been suggested also that such movement between industries as had occurred in the lives of old people had occurred before they were sixty. Some confirmatory evidence of this is contained in analyses showing the number of men and women separately who were in different occupations at five yearly intervals from the age of fifteen onward.

It must be remembered that the analyses refer only to old people who had remained in employment until the age of sixty or over. Thus a differential retirement rate between industries could mean that certain groups are not covered at all. Again, the expansion in numbers of different industries in the last thirty years or so may mean that old persons were settled in employment before some opportunities for employment now available arose, thus the proportions of old persons in those particular industries would be lower than might be expected in view of the present distribution of the working population, not because old people had left those industries in great numbers but because they had less frequently entered them, those industries having been manned mainly by lower age-groups.

An examination of the industries and occupations in which men and women were engaged at different periods of their lives shows that from ages 35 and 40 the proportions of old persons engaged in different occupations varied only slightly, save in the case of managers and the self-employed among men, and non-manufacturing operatives among women. The proportion of managerial and supervisory workers reached a peak at ages 45-55, while the proportion of self-employed and non-manufacturing operatives increased continuously up to 65 and over. The increase in the proportion of non-manufacturing operatives among women was linked with an increase in the proportions engaged in Distributive and Personal Services. It is noticeable too that with advancing age an increasing number of men are to be found in Miscellaneous industries. (33). (34). (35). (36).

These analyses broadly confirm the suggestions made earlier that the occupational and industrial mobility of old persons is low, the greater part of their movement having taken place earlier in life, and that the distribution of old persons has not been greatly affected by the war. It would appear also that in old age an increasing number of men take to miscellaneous kinds of work, and increasing number of women to Distribution and Personal Services.

(b) Persons aged 60 and over who had left work in the 10 years preceding 1945.

Since this inquiry was concerned with the relationship between old age and employment, and 60 years had been chosen as the minimum age of persons to be included in the sample, it was decided to limit the questions on previous employment to the 10 years preceding the interview. This period covered the war and the period of increasing employment immediately before it. It was thought that few men, at least, would have left work before the age of 50. Accordingly, all old persons who were not occupied at the date of the survey were asked whether or not they had worked in the last 10 years. If they had done so they were asked the age at which they had left work, the occupation they had followed, the industry in which they had been engaged and their reasons for leaving. Altogether 791 old persons had been employed in the previous 10 years.

The view that few men would have left work before the age of 50 is supported by the fact that only 2% of recently retired persons aged 60 and over in 1945 had left work between the ages of 50-54. The bulk of old persons formerly in employment but then unoccupied had left work between the ages of 60 and 70. Women had left work before 60 much more frequently than men, however, and had stayed in employment after 70 much less frequently. (37).

An analysis of the age at which old persons had left work by their age in 1945 showed that 42% of those who had left work in the previous 10 years had done so in the 5 years before 1945, that is, during a period of acute labour shortage. So it would seem that the labour shortage during the war did not, in fact, greatly retard the retirement of old persons and so far as is known only a small proportion of old persons had left work because of redundancy by June 1945.

The previous occupations of persons over 60 and not employed in 1945 were classified in the same way as the occupations of old persons who were employed. There is a considerable measure of agreement between the two occupational distributions, and the one would seem to verify the other. On comparison the principal differences occur in the case of skilled workers and the self-employed. There is a higher proportion of skilled workers among the retired than among those still in employment, and a lower proportion of the self employed among those who have retired than among those in employment. If men are compared with men, and women with women these differences become more pronounced. 7% of the men in employment were skilled operatives compared with 14% of the men who had retired. 5% of the women who had retired had been self-employed compared with 26% of self-employed among those in employment. A further difference among women is that there existed a much higher proportion of professional and technical workers among those who were retired than among those still in employment, 15% compared with 7%. (39).

If the industrical distributions of old persons both in and out of employment in mid-1945 are compared, the principal differences between them can be seen to arise in the Metal Manufacturing and Engineering, and the Distributive and Personal Service group, (both with a greater proportion of employed than of unoccupied), and the Commerce and Professions group, of whom there were fewer among the employed than among the unoccupied. It can be suggested that old persons remained in the Metal Manufacturing and Distributive groups either because they were more suitable to the aged or because greater opportunities of employment were offered to them. The effect of the war on these industries was to expand the first and contract the second. The contraction of distribution was caused by the removal of young men and women, however, with a consequent increase in the opportunities for employment for old persons. In addition a high proportion of old persons in the Distributive group were self employed, 37% and so able to adjust their working conditions to suit themselves. Old persons may drop out of Commerce and the Professions more frequently than out of other industries because of a more rigid application of a retiring age or because it is financially easier for them to do so. (40).

In general these analyses substantiate the conclusion already drawn in preceding sections that the war brought about few changes in the industrial distribution of old persons, and that a greater proportion of old persons than of the general population is to be found in the non-manufacturing industries.

All old persons who had left work in the previous 10 years were asked why they had done so. Their answers were classified into broad groups and the results are given below. It was thought that the question would give some indication of the influence of age and health on retirement, and it does show, in fact, that health is a major reason.

77% of old persons who had worked in the previous 10 years left work either because of age or failing health. 11% were discharged and 6% left for reasons of their own, either because they were dissatisfied with their job or because they wanted to be near their family. A smaller proportion of women than of men left because of age reasons, but that was the only difference between the sexes end is probably linked with the fact that women leave work earlier than men in any case.

The association between reasons for leaving work and age of leaving work was also studied. Of 86 men who had left work between the ages of [Text missing] and 48 had done so because of ill health. They account very largely for the high proportion of persons aged 50 - 64 who gave this as a reason for returning to work. A higher proportion of those aged 65-69 than of those under 65 or 70 and over gave age as a reason for leaving. This may be due to the inclusion of the pensionable age of 65 in that group. The effect of recognised ages of retirement on the length of time for which old persons continue to work may be considerable, since it has been shown earlier that the majority of old persons retire at pensionable ages. (42).

A factor which is not openly stated but may be involved in the classifications including age and ill health as reasons for retiring, is the extent to which old persons were doing jobs which have not been adapted to their needs in any way. Such phrases as ‘job affected health’ ‘got past work’, ‘too old’, may be a reflection of the extent to which old persons were expected to go on working in the same ways and with the same methods as when they were much younger. An analysis by economic group shows that economic pressure to continue work must have been present in the case of many who gave age and ill health as reasons for leaving work.

All old persons who were not in employment in 1945 were asked whether they had ever thought of returning to work. Only 4% said they had thought of doing so. More than half of this 4% had left work because of illness, because the jobs they had been doing affected their health, or through accidents. Less than one in ten had left work because of age retirement. From this it would appear that at the time of the enquiry there were few old persons outside employment who were ready to enter it.

(c) Summary

Both the occupational and industrial tables showing what old persons in employment were doing at five-yearly intervals indicate that the proportions in each industrial and occupation group became stabilised in the early middle age of this sample of employed old persons, save in the cases of managers and supervisors and the self-employed. The proportion of old persons who are self employed increases rapidly with age, particularly after 60. The slight increase in the proportion of persons over 60 in the Metal Manufacturing and Engineering Industries is but a single deviation from an otherwise settled pattern.

Low industrial mobility with increasing age may be linked with an earlier suggestion that the differences between the industrial distribution of old persons in 1945 and the industrial distribution of the whole working population were due in part to the recruitment of younger persons to new and expanding industries before the war, the older persons having remained in work to which they were accustomed. Persons over 60 very largely continue to do the same kind of work, (the self-employed apart), as when they were middle aged, presumably with little adaptation of their tasks to suit their changed capacities.

Few of those who had left work in the ten years preceding 1945 had thought of returning to work, and those who had thought of doing so were mainly those who had left work because of redundancy or ill health. In general, the past employments of old persons who had left work serve to confirm the conclusions drawn from the employment history of old persons still at work that they had not moved into fresh occupation during the war and that their industrial mobility was low.

There would not seem to be a reservoir of labour readily available among persons aged 60 and over in 1945, but it could be argued that as 44% of old persons who had left work in the ten years preceding 1945 had done so because of ill health, accidents, or the feeling that they were past work, this is some indication of the proportion of retirements which may be delayed in the future if there is a serious attempt to adapt jobs to the capacities of the older workers.