The Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging Report on Health and Aging in Canada Income and Working in Retirement

There are important insights on income and working including:

·       For the age group 55-59, rates of complete retirement for women vary considerably by province, from about 20% in British Columbia to about 30% in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. Comparable differences continue for ages 60 to 64 but start to fade for ages 65 to 69.

•      The same provincial variation applies for retirement rates for men albeit with somewhat lower retirement rates below age 65.

•      For both women and men, the total (partial plus complete) retirement rates of retirement by ages 70 to 74 vary relatively little by province although considerable differences remain in the partial retirement rates.

•      In a question that allowed multiple responses, no single reason received a majority of responses. The fourth most common reason was health, given by about a quarter of all women and men retirees, and of these, reasons of physical health were more commonly reported than those of mental health.

·       Taken as a percentage of those retired, about 20% of women and 30% of men. “unretire” for some period. A significant minority of each group say they did this for financial reasons but including their earnings only 5% of the unretired report that their standard of living is inadequate

·       Unretirement employment is mostly part-time, particularly for those who worked part-time before retirement.

·       Women and men who are completely or partially retired at younger ages are much more likely to have at least one restriction in Instrumental

·       Activities in Daily Living (IADL). However, this difference between those who are retired and those who are not is quite small for ages 60 to 75.

·       Income differences within age groups narrow as age increases. The income distribution in the CLSA sample is very similar to that from the 2011 National Household Survey that was associated with the Census.

·       Overall, close to 80% of retirees said they managed very well or quite well, while 17% responded “get by alright” and only about 3% responded that they don’t manage very well or had financial difficulties.