Band 7+: The bar chart shows the proportion of men and women aged 60-64 employed in four different countries in 1997 and 2000. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The given bar chart compares the employment rates for males and females aged 60-64 in four countries between 1997 and 2000.

Overall, although the percentage of old man workers consistently outnumbered their counterparts in terms of employment across all countries, it witnessed significant declines, whereas the figure for women in their 60s remained stable.

In 1970, the figure for employed males in their 60s came out on top with a very sizable majority and surpassed the other nations, at 85%, but it fell by roughly 11% in 2000. Following closely behind were Belgium and Australia, with employment rates of 79% and 76%, respectively. However, both countries experienced a sharp decline, with Belgium’s rate decreasing to 19% and Australia’s rate to 47%. The USA came last, with 73% of the male workers aged 60-65 in 1970, before declining by 47% in 2000.

In contrast, there was a slight fluctuation in the proportion of female workers in their 60s. Japan still dominated in this category in 1970, at 43%, which dropped to 40% in 2000. Unlike Japan, both the USA and Australia experienced gradual rises, with these figures growing from 36% to 39% and from 16% to 18%, respectively. Finally, this fraction in Belgium reached a bottom of 8% in 1997 and continued falling to 7% until 2000.