Tuesday, March 9, 2004

SPOTLIGHT: Working seniors

More seniors choosing to keep working

The ranks of working seniors are swelling across the country. A new study shows that more seniors were working in 2001 than there were five years earlier, they are better educated, and they now work in a wider variety of occupations.

The study, which updates a May 2002 study on working seniors, found that an estimated 305,000 people aged 65 and over were employed in 2001, up from about 255,000 in 1996.

This was a 19.6% increase, nearly twice the 11% growth in the total senior population during the same period. In 2001, 8.4% of seniors were working, most of them full-time, up from 7.8% five years earlier.

The differing proportions of seniors in the workforce among provinces reflect provincial economies. Older workers were most common in the Prairies, where farming is important. Seniors accounted for almost 5% of total employment in Saskatchewan, compared with only 1% in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 2.1% nationally.

Working seniors getting older

The study also showed that overall, working seniors are getting older. Those aged between 65 and 69 still formed the majority (57%) in 2001, but this was down from 60% in 1996. In contrast, about 17% were 75 and older in 2001, up from 15%.

With increasing life expectancy and continuing medical advances, many Canadian seniors live two or more decades after retirement, and more of these years are spent in good health. This appears to be reflected in the rising proportion of working seniors.

Reasons seniors work range from economic necessity to love of the job. Some are unwilling or unable to stop working ‘cold turkey’. For these people, the solution may involve a transition to retirement, such as part-time work or casual work in a family business.

However, even though Canadians are living longer and healthier lives, it does not necessarily mean they want to say working longer. Those who find their work tedious and stressful are apt to consider retiring at an early age while they are still in good health. This is reflected by the decline in the median retirement age, from 65.0 in 1976 to 60.6 in 2002.

Better educated

Working seniors were almost four times more likely than people aged 15 to 64 to be self-employed. Six out of every 10 self-employed seniors were working owners of an unincorporated business without paid help.

Working seniors are generally better educated. In 1996, just under 16% of employed seniors had a university degree; five years later, this proportion had risen to over 17%.

In contrast, more than 22% of working seniors had less than a Grade 9 education in 1996. By 2001, this had declined to under 19%.

The article "More seniors at work" is available in the February 2004 online edition of Perspectives on Labour and Income, vol. 5, no. 2.

For more information, contact Doreen Duchesne (613-951-6379), Labour and Household Surveys Analysis Division.

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© 2004, Statistics Canada.