Introduction

Ever wondered how to find the typical age in the labour force? Help can come in the form of averages, like mean, median or mode, which are commonly used to summarise the characteristics or performance of a group.
 
The mean age tells us how old, on average, an economically active person is, by adding the ages of all persons in the labour force and dividing it by the number of persons there are. It can be used to compare against an individual’s age.
 
The median age gives us the age of the person in the middle. i.e. the age where at least 50% of the labour force is older or of the same age as the median, and the remaining 50% younger or of the same age.
 
At times, it might be helpful also to know the most common age in the labour force, which is the mode.

In this way, the mean, median and mode give us a sense of the age of the people in the labour force and the variation in their ages.