A new report from Statistics Canada, Employment by choice and necessity among Canadian-born and immigrant seniors, looks at the degree to which different seniors, those between 65 and 74 years of age, worked by choice or necessity in 2022.
“Seniors may alleviate downward pressures on the overall employment rate through their involvement in the labour market,” Statistics Canada states. “Many seniors work past their mid-60s for various reasons.” These include inadequate retirement savings, unforeseen expenses, the responsibility to help support their children and other family members and to provide a sense of personal fulfillment.
Implications for well-being
“Working by choice rather than necessity may have important implications for the well-being of seniors,” they add.
Seniors who worked by necessity in 2022 were less likely to be self-employed and more likely to work full time when compared to those who worked by choice. They also earned significantly lower wages.
Although the propensity to work did not vary substantially across education levels – the numbers of those with bachelor’s degrees and those with no high school education who said they needed to work were roughly the same – but the number of those who worked by choice increased markedly with education.
All told, 21 per cent of Canada’s seniors were employed in 2022. Of this percentage, nine per cent report working by necessity, while 12 per cent reported working by choice.
