More than 4.5 million Canadians aged 55 and older are still working, and they make up almost 22% of Canada’s labour force. However, if recent trends are any indication, the number of people retiring each year from the final cohorts of the baby boom (the generation born between 1946 and 1966) should soon eclipse 400,000, i.e., one in five workers in this age group. This drain could exacerbate the labour shortage that has gripped the working world for the past few years.
This finding comes from recent data compiled by Statistics Canada. Nonetheless, some figures leave room for hope that this trend could turn out to be somewhat weaker than anticipated. About half of the Canadians who are nearing retirement actually say that they would keep working if they could reduce their hours (55.1%) or take a part-time job without any impact on their pension (48.9%).
If you’re wondering about your own options as you approach retirement, talk to your advisor.
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The following sources were used to prepare this article:
Statistics Canada, “ Labour force characteristics by age group, monthly, seasonally adjusted;” “In the midst of high job vacancies and historically low unemployment, Canada faces record retirements from an aging labour force: number of seniors aged 65 and older grows six times faster than children 0-14;” “Majority of people planning to retire would continue working longer if they could reduce their hours and stress.”