# 152,000 employees now work beyond state pension age

> In the second quarter of 2026, 152,000 employees, 1.7% of the total, were above state pension (AOW) age, up from 1.2% in early 2018, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports; real estate and transport have the highest shares.

Economy · published 2026-10-21 04:46 · updated 2026-10-21 08:42 · https://nlnow.nl/a/more-dutch-employees-keep-working-past-state-pension-age/

In the second quarter of 2026, 1.7% of all employees in the Netherlands, 152,000 people, were above state pension age (AOW), according to CBS. In the first quarter of 2018 the share was 1.2%, or 96,000 employees.

The rise comes despite the AOW age going up in steps to 67 since 2013. Men are more likely to keep working: 2.3% of male employees were above AOW age, against 1.1% of female employees. Since early 2018 both shares have risen by about 0.5 percentage points.

**Older employees are most common in real estate rental and trade, and in transport** (%; source: CBS)

- Real estate rental and trade: 4.3
- Transport and storage: 3.6
- Specialist business services: 2.9
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 2.9
- Other services: 2.5
- Culture, sport and recreation: 2.4
- Financial services: 2.2
- Rental and other business services: 2.2
- Trade: 1.9
- Construction: 1.5
- Industry: 1.3
- Energy supply: 1.3
- Education: 1.3
- Water and waste management: 1.2
- Health and social care: 1.2
- Hospitality: 1.1
- Mining: 1
- Information and communication: 0.7
- Public administration: 0.6

Public administration and government services (0.6%) and information and communication (0.7%) have the lowest shares.

In the second quarter, just over 20,000 people above AOW age started work in a sector, 1.3% of all new entrants. About half of all entrants come from another sector; the rest had no job as an employee a year earlier.

People above AOW age make up 2.2% of those who stopped working as employees, while the 55-to-AOW-age group makes up 14.4% of all leavers. The largest group leaving is employees under 25, who also often enter a sector, after finishing studies or moving from another one.

Most people aged 55 and over who leave are retiring, early or otherwise. Of those who leave after reaching AOW age, 9% take a job in another sector. In the 55-to-AOW-age group, 37% leave for retirement, 22% for a benefit and 20% for work in another sector.

The two sectors with the most older workers, real estate rental and trade (4.3%) and transport and storage (3.6%), are the only ones where the share is around 4% or more, CBS says.

## Background

- **CBS (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek)**: Statistics Netherlands, the independent government body that produces the official statistics on the Dutch economy and society.
- **AOW (Algemene Ouderdomswet)**: The AOW is the Dutch state pension, a basic old-age pension paid by the government to people who have lived or worked in the Netherlands. It is paid from the age at which a person becomes entitled to it, regardless of their earnings history, and it is funded from current contributions. Because it is a state pension, it is separate from the employer-based supplementary pensions that many workers also build up.

From NLnow, news from the Netherlands in English. How stories are made: https://nlnow.nl/about/