[Work after age 55: recent trends and forecast elements]. / L'activite apres 55 ans: evolutions recentes et elements de prospective.

Labor force participation in France of those aged over 55 years is analyzed in this article. "The drop in the participation rate in later years is a longterm trend found in most developed countries. It is a common method for reducing working hours over an entire life cycle and has been made possible by the growth in productivity and the development of pension schemes. However, the phenomenon grew in the mid-1970s, especially in France, due to the growth in early retirement and end-of-career unemployment and also the lowering of the legal retirement age. The participation rate in France is now very low after sixty and is one of the lowest in Europe for the 55-to-59-year-old age bracket." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND GER AND SPA)

[The working population should continue to rise for a decade]. / La population active devrait encore augmenter pendant une dizaine d'annees.

Future trends in the size and characteristics of the population of working age in France are analyzed using data from official sources. "The future working population is expected to comprise even fewer young people and more women than today. This population should continue to grow and will probably have risen by one and a half million people by 2006, essentially for demographic reasons. The trend should subsequently reverse due to the first post-war generations reaching 60 years old. The working population should therefore start to decrease. Yet the effect of the turnaround should remain modest up to 2015." (SUMMARY IN ENG AND GER AND SPA)