The French can -- and do -- retire early

PARIS, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- French workers take advantage of retirement benefits earlier than those in other industrial countries, the Organization for Economic Development says.

In 2009, 80 percent of French men ages 60 to 64 had stopped working, The New York Times reports. Only 20 percent were working or looking for a job.

The Times compared six countries using OECD data -- France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and the United States. The French appeared to give up working younger than anyone else in the group.

President Nicholas Sarkozy's effort to raise the retirement age has brought a furious response from labor unions and the left with massive demonstrations. But the Times said even the more generous benefits now in force are not all that different from other countries -- it is just that the French use them.

Even in Italy, 30 percent of men 60 to 64 are in the workforce and in Germany almost half. In the United States it is 61 percent, and about 75 percent in Japan and South Korea.

Less than 1 percent of Frenchmen above the age of 75 are still working, while 10 percent of those in the United States and 14 percent in Japan are in the labor force. In South Korea, labor force participation is higher for the over-75 set at almost 25 percent.