A growing number of Australians plan to keep working during retirement, according to a survey from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).
AFSA says about 33% of Australians aged 65 to 69 years and 8% of those aged 70-plus are employed or looking for work.
Its survey results uncover the main reasons why more people want to work during retirement.
Why Australians want to keep working in retirement
According to the AFSA survey, about 25% of workers aged 65 or over say they intend to continue working during retirement to keep occupied, active, and socially engaged.
About 15% say they intend to continue working out of financial necessity. A further 14% believe they will never be able to retire, mainly due to financial reasons.
Among those aged 50 to 64 years, 32% intend to keep working during retirement to keep themselves busy. A further 11% will continue to work out of necessity, and 13% feel they'll never be able to retire.
AFSA said there was no typical pathway to retirement:
While the decisions that shape retirement pathways certainly reflect financial circumstances, these are not the only considerations for many older Australians.
Some people delay retirement and remain in the workforce to maintain social connections. Others retire earlier than they would like due to ill health or in order to care for family members – with the latter disproportionately impacting women.
As workers get older, they tend to transition from full-time work to part-time or casual work.
Data shows that full-time workers account for 16% of Australians aged 65 to 69 years and 3% of those aged 70 or over.
Part-time workers account for 16% of Australians aged 65 to 69 and 6% of the 70-plus cohort.
As reported in The Australian, ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty says the "days of working to customary retirement age and then putting your feet up are long gone".
Delahunty comments:
We've definitely seen that retirement as a concept is evolving and changing. It also mirrors health and life expectancy. That's improved, so people feel more capable.
Deanne Stewart, CEO of Australia's third-largest superannuation fund, Aware Super, says she has noticed more members working in retirement.
She says:
The whole rhythm of retirement has completely changed. It's not the gold watch moment from 30 years ago when the superannuation system began, and off into the sunset.
It's dipping in, dipping out, part-time, volunteering, coming back into the system – we're seeing a lot more flexibility in our member base. We almost call it the un-retirement – they retire then they come back into it.
What's the average age of retirement in Australia?
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show the average age of retirement among the 130,000 people who retired in 2022 was 64.8 years.
For men, the average age was higher at 66.9 years. For women, it was lower at 63.2 years.
The main reason people retire is access to financial support.
This might include reaching the preservation age for superannuation (for people born after 30 June 1964, it's 60 years old). It may also include becoming eligible to receive the age pension (at age 67).
The second most common reason for retirement was sickness, injury or disability. The next most common reason was losing a job or not being able to find employment.
