One in 10 retirees go back to work in retirement

A new study on retirement trends from Statistics Canada documents changes in post-retirement employment over time. It found that the number of retirements in Canada has increased from 183,900 in August 2012 to 276,800 in August 2025. In 2023, one in 10 Canadians over age 55 who had retired in the past were working. This is up from seven per cent in 2019.

By gender, 12 per cent of men were working post retirement, compared with nine per cent of women. “Other characteristics associated with working after retirement included a higher level of family debt, a higher level of educational attainment and a younger age,” they write in the report, Retirement and post-retirement employment among older Canadians.

Of those working after retirement, 73 per cent worked part time while 33 per cent were self-employed. “Post-retirement employment has been changing over time, first increasing slightly from six per cent in 2005 to seven per cent in 2012. The growth from 2005 to 2012 was largely attributable to an increase among women. After remaining stable at seven per cent over the next seven years, post-retirement employment increased notably from seven per cent in 2019 to 10 per cent in 2023. Similar rises were recorded among men and women across all age groups,” they write.

They add that among those over age 55, 16 per cent with a family debt greater than $40,000 worked after retirement, compared with seven per cent who did not have any debt. Notably, they say lower levels of assets were not associated with a higher likelihood of working past retirement. “Instead, those with more assets were more likely to be working,” they write.

Those with a university degree were three times as likely to work after retirement as those without a high school diploma – 15 per cent versus five per cent, respectively, they add.

By province, they say individuals living in Prince Edward Island (17 per cent), Quebec (12 per cent), Manitoba (15 per cent), Saskatchewan (12 per cent) and British Columbia (12 per cent), were more likely to work after retirement than those living in Ontario (nine per cent).