The bar charts illustrate the employment rates of men and women across different age groups and according to the age of their youngest child in the UK in 2008.
Overall, women generally had higher employment rates than men among people aged 26-59, whereas the opposite was true in most categories based on the age of the youngest child. Employment rates were also highest among middle-aged adults and lowest among the youngest and oldest groups.
Regarding age, women aged between 26 and 59 consistently recorded higher employment rates than men. For example, the figure for those aged 26-34 was 69%, 4 percentage points higher than that for men. Similar patterns were seen in the 35-49 and 50-59 groups. By contrast, men had higher employment rates among those aged 16-25 (20% compared with 14%) and those over 60 (37% versus 27%).
As for the age of the youngest child, men generally had higher employment rates than women, except in the 0-5 age group, where both stood at 60%. The male figure remained stable at around 75% for those whose youngest child was aged between 6 and 20, exceeding the corresponding female figures. However, when the youngest child was aged 21-25, women recorded a slightly higher employment rate.