Farmers, undertakers and MPs among oldest workers
Farmers, undertakers and elected politicians are among the occupations most dependent on older workers, new figures suggest.
Some 42 per cent of farmers in England and Wales said they were aged 60 years or over at the time of the 2021 census, along with 28 per cent of people working as undertakers or mortuary and crematorium assistants.
Nearly a third (30 per cent) of members of the clergy, such as vicars and bishops, were at least 60 years old, similar to caretakers (29 per cent) and typists (31 per cent).
But the largest proportion was among elected representatives - anyone whose main job is being paid to hold an elected office, from local councillor to Member of Parliament - where just over half (52 per cent) were aged 60 or over, and nearly two in five (38 per cent) were 65 or above.
The figures have been published by the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) and are the latest data to be released from the census, which took place in England and Wales on March 21 2021.
They show that farmers have a particularly old age profile as an occupation, with fewer than 11 per cent aged under 30 and almost a third (29 per cent) aged at least 65.
Across the whole working population, only four per cent of people are aged 65 or above.
Farming is also the occupation with the highest UKborn workforce (98 per cent).
The census counted farm workers separately, and among this group - who may do more of the physical labour - the ONS found nearly a quarter of people (23 per cent) were aged under 25.
'An occupation with an older age profile could pose challenges for labour supply in the future if not enough young people go into that type of work,' the ONS said.
Whilenearlythreein10(28 per cent) of people working as undertakers and mortuary or crematorium assistants were aged 60 or above, only one in 10 (10 per cent) were under 30.
Typists and other related keyboard roles 'appears to be a dying profession', with 60 per cent of people doing this job aged 50 or over - almost double the proportion for the whole workforce (33 per cent).
By contrast, data entry jobs, which also involve routine keyboard work, were mostly held by younger people, with 41 per cent under the age of 35 - higher the equivalent figure (33 per cent) for the whole workforce.