The charts compare the percentage of employees aged 60-64 by gender across four countries in two separate years, 1997 and 2000.
Overall, the share of men was considerably higher than that of women in both years across all countries, with Japan employing the highest proportion of both males and females. Notably, the percentage of men in employment in all four countries followed a downward trajectory, whereas the figure for their female counterparts in Australia and the USA registered marginal increases.
The highest proportion of employed men was in Japan at 85%, whereas the shares in the USA, Australia and Belgium ranged between 73% and 79%. By 2000, all figures had fallen sharply, with Belgium recording the steepest drop to a mere 19%. Similarly, the proportions in Australia plunged to 47%, representing nearly a 30-percentage-points drop. In Japan and the USA, however, the declines were less dramatic, with the figures decreasing by approximately 10 to 20 percentage points.
As for the women employees, again, Japan led the chart at 43%, and it was followed by the USA at 36%. While the former fell by three percentage points, the latter increased by the same amount. Conversely, Belgium had the lowest share of female workers at 8%, which was half the figure for Australia. In 2000, Belgium’s proportion edged down to 7%, whereas that of Australia edged up to 18%.