Irish people work more years than Europeans, and Irish men work longer than women, figures show

In 2002, men were expected to have a working life that was 11.6 years longer than women. Twenty years later, that had dropped to six years. File picture: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire

The working lives of Irish people continue to get longer, with a young person beginning their career set to spend an average of nearly 40 years in the labour force, new figures show.

Irish men and women work several years more than the European average at 39.4 years, up from 35.6 years back in 2013, figures from Eurostat suggest.