Retired Canadians Would Stay on the Job With Shorter Hours

December 9, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Sixty percent of Canadian retirees say that they would have remained at work under different employment conditions that permitted them to work fewer days or shorter hours without negatively affecting their pension.

According to Statistics Canada, of retirees who left work after 1992, 60% responded positively to at least one of nine possible scenarios specifying different circumstances at their retirement time.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents to the survey said they would have continued to do paid work if they could have worked fewer days without affecting their pensions, while 26% said working shorter days would have altered their decision to retire. Nineteen percent said they would have stayed if they were allowed more vacation time, the study also shows. Part-time work would have also been an incentive to stay, according to 28% of respondents, while 21% would have stayed for a salary increase.

Twelve percent said they would have stayed if they had not been forced out by mandatory retirement policies. Suitable caregiving arrangements would have made 6% of respondents stay on as well.

Twenty-one percent would have opted to stay if on-the-job safety was improved.

Over one-third (38%) of Canadians who retired between 1992 and 2002 did so voluntarily and would not have continued paid work, according to the survey. Twenty-sex percent retired on their own accord but would have stayed on if conditions had been different, while 24% retired involuntarily and would have preferred to continue working. Three percent of respondents didn’t have a choice in retiring, but wouldn’t have stayed on even if it had been an option.

Pension plan participants and those who were not in a pension plan had significant mismatches between their preferences and actual retirement options, according to the survey. Pension plan members were much more likely to fall into the category of people who retired voluntarily but would have preferred working if circumstances were different.

The survey looked at 25,000 individuals aged 45 and up.

The study is available at http://statcan.ca/english/studies/11-008/feature/11-008-XIE20040037731.pdf .

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