Economists say the flood of retirements will likely continue, causing a major drain on the labour force.
Think there’s a labour shortage now? Just stick around.
The number of Canadians who retired jumped almost 50 per cent in the last year, according to recent data from Statistics Canada. And economists warn it’s a trend that isn’t likely to slow down.
“The youngest baby boomers are the biggest demographic cohort and they’re starting to get to retirement age,” said Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada.
Friday, Statistics Canada released data showing that as of August a record-high 307,000 Canadians had retired over the previous 12 months, up from 233,000 a year earlier. That flood could well continue: Statistics Canada also reported that, in August, 11.9 cent of permanent employees were planning to leave their jobs within the next 12 months, 5.5 percentage points higher than in January.
Some of the bump in retirement numbers came because Canadians decided it wasn’t worth the bother to call it quits during a pandemic, Antunes argued.
“Why retire if you can’t go anywhere or do anything?” Antunes said, referring to COVID-related travel restrictions and lockdowns, which have happened on and off since March 2020.
But even before the global COVID-19 pandemic, Antunes noted, the trend was already there; between August 2019 and August 2020, 273,000 Canadians retired.
“This is something that was happening well before COVID. COVID just put it off for a bit,” said Antunes.
