The youngest Gen X households earn around £7,000 more than the oldest as older Gen X members drop out of the workforce or go part-time, putting strain on their retirement savings.

Gen X is defined as those born between 1965 and 1980, so now range in age between 60 and 45.

It represents almost 14million people in the UK, around a quarter of the total adult population.

New research from retirement specialist Just Group suggests there’s a clear decline in average pre-tax household incomes as Gen X ages.

Those aged between 43-48 receive an average £49,625, which drops to £45,410 among those aged 49-53 and falls further to £42,802 in the 54-59 age group.

The percentage in full-time employment also falls as the age groups get older, starting at 69% at 43-48, dropping to 58% at 54-59.

The proportion not working climbs from 14% to 20%, a fifth of 54-59 year olds.

Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group said: “we are seeing average incomes drop significantly as Gen X households get older.”

He said the key question raised by this trend is whether the older members of Gen X jumped or were they pushed from the labour market?

Are they choosing to transition into retirement by reducing hours or leaving work entirely to get a better work-life balance?

Or, are they forced out of work or into lower paid jobs due to factors like ill-health, redundancy or difficulty finding suitable jobs?

He said: “The latter scenario would raise a serious red flag over their longer-term financial security as it suggests a possibility of reduced pension contributions at a critical phase in their life.

“Those who find themselves unable to get back into work may be forced to dip into their pensions savings early and run the risk of diminished retirement savings.”

• Research was part of Just Group GenVoices consumer insight project, conducted by Opinium on more than 3,000 Gen X adults born between 1965 and 1980.