Older people are staying in employment rather than go into retirement, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
The figures showed there were 1.12 million people who were not looking for work because they had retired, 66,000 fewer than for a year earlier.
Meanwhile the number of people in work aged 65 and over increased by 75,000 during the period of July to September 2018, meaning there are now to 1.3m over-65s currently in work in the UK.
The increase in the employment rate for women over the past few years has been partly attributed to the equalisation of the state pension age which meant fewer women were retiring between the ages of 60 and 65 years.
Helen Morrissey, pension specialist at Royal London, said: "These statistics show that while there has been a slight decline in the number of people aged between 16 and 64 in work, the number of people aged over 65 who are still in work continues to grow.
"While this may be partly due to people not having saved enough for retirement it is also an indicator of a more flexible working market where people can continue to work for longer if they want to and this should be welcomed."
The survey shows that there were 32m people in work, 23,000 more compared with April to June 2018 and 350,000 more than for a year earlier.
The employment rate - the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 years who were in work - was 75.5 per cent, little changed compared with April to June 2018, but higher than for a year earlier (75 per cent).
