It depends how you cook the figures and portray them. The whole 586,000 isn’t just in that age group is it? Amongst the age group 55-64 the participation has dropped 1.2%. Easy to see how that could happen given that for quite a few working is optional (properties paid off, children flown the nest, possibly downsized already). Meanwhile the unlucky ones without savings / pension will set to retire at 66,67,68. Just a couple of years short of 3 score years and ten! Christ I wouldn’t want to be hobbling in at 68, the state I will be in by then.