Tuesday, January 11, 2005

SPOTLIGHT: Retirees

Majority don’t want to go

SIX out of every 10 people who retired during the 1990s say they would have continued working if their circumstances had been different, according to a new study.

Among the conditions they cited that would have kept them in the workplace were better health, fewer hours, and improved salary and pension arrangements. Some said they would have stayed if mandatory retirement policies had not existed in their workplace.

The results have implications for the workplace. With the imminent retirement of baby boomers, some analysts have stressed the importance of strategies to encourage or enable older workers to defer retirement and remain on the job.

According to the study, many people who retired would have been amenable to such initiatives.

The study cautioned that responses to hypothetical questions must be treated cautiously. Responses may overstate the willingness of retirees to have continued working, particularly if they have found their retirement to be less satisfying than they expected. In such cases, the option of continued employment may look appealing in retrospect.

The study was based on data from the 2002 General Social Survey that covered 4,500 people aged 50 and older in the 10 provinces who retired between 1992 and 2002.

Higher salary

Some 26% of people who retired said they would have continued working had their health been better. About one-fifth said they would have done so had they received a higher salary.

The study divided respondents into four categories, based on circumstances and attitudes surrounding their retirements:

“High-congruence retirees”: Those who retired willingly without second thoughts. They account for 38% of all retirees.

“Moderate-congruence” retirees: Those who retired voluntarily but would have continued had circumstances been different. They account for 36%.

“Low-congruence retirees”: Those who were forced to retire and who would have preferred to continue working. They account for 24%.

A fourth group, comprising only 3% of retirees, consisted of those who had retired involuntarily, but would not have continued working in any case.

Downsizing

Nearly four-fifths of the high-congruence group said they retired because they were financially able to, not because of poor health, downsizing or other factors. More than half had household incomes of $40,000 or more.

The moderate-congruence group typically left the labour force at a younger age than their high-congruence counterparts. Just over half first retired before the age of 60.

Three-quarters of this group said they retired because it was financially possible to do so. More than one-quarter accepted early retirement incentives, while just under one-third cited health as a factor in their retirement.

Financial reasons did not figure prominently into the decision made by low-congruence retirees. Two-thirds said they were in a weak financial situation. The main factor forcing this group into retirement was health, and one-half said they would have stayed at work had their health been better.

You can read the entire report “You can’t always get what you want: Retirement preferences and experiences” in the publication Canadian social trends on our website.

For more information, contact Grant Schellenberg (613-951-9580), Demography Division.

  Print article

© 2004, 2005 Statistics Canada.