Study: Years to retirement, 1998 to 2009

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Canadians aged 50 and over are working later and delaying retirement, regardless of their level of education. However, because of a shorter life expectancy, the less-educated are likely to spend fewer years in retirement.

This new study, published today in the inaugural edition of Insights on Canadian Society, a new Statistics Canada online publication, shows that older workers are more likely to retire later than they did in the late 1990s, regardless of their level of education.

Among those with less than a high school diploma, a 50-year-old worker in 2009 could expect to work another 14.3 years before retiring. In comparison, this same worker could expect to work 12.3 years in 1998.

Similarly, a 50-year-old worker with a postsecondary education could expect to work 14.6 years in 2009, compared with 12.0 in 1998.

This suggests that the working-life expectancy of 50-year-old workers increased by at least two years for both the most-educated and the least-educated.

However, there are significant differences in life expectancy after retirement on the basis of education level.

More precisely, less-educated workers aged 50 have a life expectancy after retirement of 18 years, compared with 21 years among those with a post-secondary education.

Voluntary and involuntary retirements

The above calculations include individuals who may have been pushed into 'involuntary' retirement because of events such as layoffs, illness or caring for a family member. Involuntary retirements make up about one-quarter of total retirements.

The working-life expectancy drops by almost two years (from 16.3 to 14.5 years) when calculations include both voluntary and involuntary retirements.

Taking involuntary retirement into account, workers aged 50 in 2009 could still expect to work longer than their 1998 counterparts.

For instance, a 50-year-old man in 1998 could expect to continue working for 12.5 years, meaning that these workers would typically retire at age 62.5.

By 2009, male workers that age could expect to work another 14.6 years, meaning that they should retire around age 65.

Similarly, the expected working life for 50-year-old women rose from 11.6 to 14.2 years during the decade.

Similar conclusions were reached when the reduction in the number of hours worked by seniors since the late 1990s was factored into the results.