March 27, 2012
Over the coming two decades, people are likely to stay in the workforce much longer – by about five years – according to a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Later Retirement: The Win-Win Solution,” author Peter Hicks finds there will be a strong trend towards later retirement by babyboomers as a result of social and economic pressures, without any policy action by government to raise retirement levels. Delaying work-retirement transitions by five years would have large, positive economic and fiscal effects, the author reports, reducing pressures on growth, government finances and pension funding. Other gains in social well-being appear likely, if harder to quantify.
