Many older Canadian workers who leave their long-term jobs don't fully retire, according to a Statistics Canada study released Tuesday.
The study tracked older workers’ employment status in the decade after they left their jobs. The study found that more than half of Canadian workers aged 55 to 64 who left their jobs between 1994 and 2000, were re-employed within the next 10 years.
- 60 per cent of Canadians who left their long-term jobs at age 55 to 59 were re-employed within the next decade.
- 44 per cent of Canadians who left their long-term jobs at age 60 to 64 were re-employed within the next decade.
Men were more likely than women to be re-employed, with re-employment for men occurring soon after their long-term jobs -- lasting 12 years or more -- had ended.
- 42 per cent of men who left their long-term jobs at age 60 to 64 were re-employed the same year their job ended.
- 21 per cent of those men were re-employed the following year.
The men who left their jobs at age 60 to 64 were re-employed for another 4.6 years, on average. Meanwhile, women worked another 3.8 years after leaving their long-term jobs.
During this time, older workers earned about 18 per cent of what they had earned in their previous jobs.
Older workers in the Prairie provinces and the Northwest Territories were more likely to be re-employed than workers in the rest of Canada. Meanwhile, workers in Ontario were more likely to be re-employed than those in Atlantic Canada.
Unsurprisingly, older workers who left their long-term jobs due to illness or injury, or who had pension coverage or worked in the public sector, were less likely to find themselves working again.
