Retirement used to mean one thing: stop working. Collect your pension. Play golf. Watch the grandchildren. For a generation of Canadians who entered the workforce in the 1960s and 1970s, retirement at 65 was a clear finish line, a social contract backed by employer pensions, government programs, and a cost of living that made full withdrawal from work financially feasible.
That contract has been quietly rewritten.
Today, a growing number of Canadians are continuing to work past traditional retirement age — not because retirement programs have disappeared, but because the economics, the health realities, the social dynamics, and even the personal preferences of Canadians have fundamentally shifted. Some work because they must. Some work because they want to. Many work because the line between the two has become impossible to locate.
In 2026, approximately 1 in 5 Canadians over 65 is still participating in the labour force. That is nearly double the rate of 2000. Among Canadians aged 65 to 69, labour force participation has risen from 19% in 2010 to over 33% in 2026. Among those aged 70 to 74, it has climbed from 10% to nearly 19%. These numbers represent hundreds of thousands of individual decisions, each shaped by a unique combination of financial need, identity, health, and circumstance. But they share common causes that are reshaping Canadian society, the labour market, and the meaning of retirement itself.
Quick Answer
More Canadians are working after retirement in 2026 because rising living costs, inadequate retirement savings, longer life expectancy, healthcare expenses, and flexible work arrangements have made traditional retirement less common. Approximately 1 in 5 Canadians over age 65 now participates in the labour force.
The Numbers: How Many Canadians Are Working After Retirement?
Before examining why Canadians are working past traditional retirement age, it is worth establishing the scale of the trend.
Labour Force Participation of Older Canadians (2026)
| Age Group | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 | 2026 | Change (2000–2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55 to 59 | 62.1% | 68.4% | 72.8% | 75.9% | +13.8 pts |
| 60 to 64 | 41.3% | 50.7% | 57.2% | 62.4% | +21.1 pts |
| 65 to 69 | 19.1% | 24.8% | 30.1% | 33.7% | +14.6 pts |
| 70 to 74 | 9.8% | 12.3% | 15.7% | 18.9% | +9.1 pts |
| 75+ | 4.2% | 5.1% | 6.4% | 8.1% | +3.9 pts |
The trend is consistent, sustained, and spans multiple economic cycles. It accelerated during periods of economic uncertainty (the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 pandemic) and continued during periods of relative prosperity. This suggests structural rather than cyclical causes.
The Profile of Post-Retirement Workers
Canadians working after traditional retirement age are not a homogeneous group. The 2026 Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey reveals a nuanced picture:
By employment type:
- Part-time employment: 58%
- Full-time employment: 28%
- Self-employment or freelance: 14%
By motivation (self-reported, multiple responses permitted):
- Financial need or security: 61%
- Social connection and purpose: 47%
- Enjoyment of work: 44%
- Maintaining health and mental sharpness: 38%
- Cannot afford to retire fully: 33%
- Employer request to stay on: 12%
By education:
- University degree or higher: 41% participate in post-65 labour force
- College diploma: 28% participate
- High school or less: 18% participate
By occupation:
- Professional and managerial: highest rates of continued work
- Healthcare and education: high rates, driven by workforce demand
- Trades and physical labour: lower rates (physical capacity constraints)
- Retail and service: mixed, driven primarily by financial need
Reason 1: The Retirement Savings Crisis
The most fundamental reason more Canadians are working after retirement is straightforward: many cannot afford to stop.
The Pension Landscape Has Deteriorated
A generation ago, the majority of Canadian workers in medium and large employers had access to Defined Benefit (DB) pension plans — plans that guaranteed a specific monthly income in retirement regardless of market performance, based on years of service and final salary. These plans transferred investment risk from the individual to the employer.
That model has been systematically dismantled over the past three decades:
| Pension Type | Private Sector Coverage (1990) | Private Sector Coverage (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Defined Benefit (DB) | 38% of workers | 11% of workers |
| Defined Contribution (DC) / Group RRSP | 12% of workers | 34% of workers |
| No workplace pension | 50% of workers | 55% of workers |
The shift from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution plans transferred investment risk entirely to the individual. Under DC plans, retirement income depends entirely on how much was contributed and how investments performed. Poor market timing, inadequate contribution rates, high management fees, or simply not starting early enough can result in retirement savings that are dramatically insufficient.
The median retirement savings picture for Canadians approaching retirement in 2026:
| Age Group | Median RRSP/RRIF Balance | Median Total Financial Assets (excl. home) | Estimated Annual Drawdown Sustainable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 to 64 | $89,000 | $142,000 | $5,700 to $7,100 |
| 65 to 69 | $76,000 | $118,000 | $4,700 to $5,900 |
| 70 to 74 | $61,000 | $98,000 | $3,900 to $4,900 |
These median figures are sobering. A sustainable drawdown rate of approximately 4% annually on $142,000 in financial assets generates approximately $5,680 per year, or $473 per month. Combined with maximum CPP ($1,306 per month in 2026) and maximum OAS ($718 per month), total monthly income reaches approximately $2,497. In a Canadian city where average one-bedroom rent is $1,800 to $2,800, this leaves very little margin for food, transportation, healthcare, clothing, and any unexpected expense.
Many Canadians arriving at retirement age find that their financial position requires either continued work, a significant reduction in living standards, or a combination of both.
The RRSP Adequacy Problem
The Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) has been Canada's primary voluntary retirement savings vehicle since 1957. The assumption embedded in the RRSP system is that individuals, given tax incentives, will voluntarily save adequately for retirement. The evidence strongly suggests this assumption has not held:
- Approximately 62% of eligible Canadians contributed nothing to their RRSP in 2024
- Among those who did contribute, the average contribution was $6,200, well below the annual maximum of $31,560
- Cumulative unused RRSP contribution room across Canada exceeds $1.2 trillion — indicating that most Canadians have consistently under-saved relative to their capacity
- Only approximately 14% of Canadians are on track to replace 70% of pre-retirement income through savings and public programs combined — a commonly cited adequacy benchmark
The reasons for under-saving are multiple and complex: the immediate financial pressures of housing costs, childcare, and student debt have historically crowded out retirement savings for many Canadians, particularly during the critical early career years when the compounding benefit of savings is greatest. Understanding the best age to start retirement planning and acting on that knowledge early are two different things, and many Canadians have done the former without adequately doing the latter.
Housing Wealth Is Not Income
Many Canadians approaching retirement are "asset rich but cash poor." They own homes that have appreciated dramatically in value — particularly in Metro Vancouver, the GTA, and other major markets — but this paper wealth does not generate monthly income unless converted to liquid assets through a sale or reverse mortgage.
The psychological and practical barriers to converting home equity into retirement income are significant:
- Emotional attachment to family home
- Desire to pass property to children
- Uncertainty about where to live after selling
- Complexity and cost of reverse mortgages
- Fear of "running out" of home equity
As a result, many Canadians with substantial home equity on paper continue working to meet living expenses rather than accessing that equity. This represents a significant misalignment between the form of wealth accumulated and the form of income needed in retirement.
Reason 2: The CPP and OAS Incentive Architecture
Canada's public retirement income system has been deliberately restructured to reward working longer. Both the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) programs now include significant financial incentives for delayed claiming — incentives that are increasingly well understood and acted upon by financially sophisticated Canadians.
CPP Delayed Claiming Benefits
The standard CPP claiming age is 65, but Canadians can begin collecting as early as 60 or delay as late as 70:
| Claiming Age | Adjustment | Monthly Payment (Maximum, 2026) | Annual Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | -36% | $836 | $10,032 |
| 62 | -21.6% | $1,024 | $12,288 |
| 65 (standard) | No adjustment | $1,306 | $15,672 |
| 67 | +16.8% | $1,526 | $18,312 |
| 70 (maximum) | +42% | $1,855 | $22,260 |
The difference between claiming CPP at 60 versus 70 is $1,019 per month, or $12,228 per year. Over a 20-year retirement from age 70 to 90, the lifetime value of delayed claiming (compared to early claiming at 60) is approximately $145,000 to $180,000 in additional income, even accounting for the years of missed payments during the delay period.
Canadians who can afford to continue working — or who choose to work part-time — are increasingly choosing to delay CPP claiming until 68, 69, or 70, banking on the enhanced monthly income to provide greater retirement security in later years when health costs may be higher and other income sources may be exhausted.
OAS Deferral Benefits
Old Age Security can similarly be deferred beyond the standard age of 65, up to age 70. Each month of deferral increases the monthly OAS payment by 0.6%, for a maximum increase of 36% at age 70:
| Claiming Age | Monthly OAS (Maximum, 2026) | Annual OAS |
|---|---|---|
| 65 | $718 | $8,616 |
| 67 | $718 + 14.4% = $821 | $9,852 |
| 70 | $718 + 36% = $976 | $11,712 |
The combination of delayed CPP and delayed OAS can meaningfully improve retirement income security, and this incentive structure has contributed to the decision of many Canadians to remain in the workforce longer.
Reason 3: Longer, Healthier Lives
The demographic reality underlying the post-retirement work trend is straightforward: Canadians are living longer and, on average, remaining healthier and more cognitively capable at older ages than previous generations.
Life Expectancy and Healthy Life Years
| Metric | 1980 | 2000 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life expectancy at birth (Canada) | 75.3 years | 79.1 years | 83.1 years |
| Life expectancy at 65 | 16.5 years | 19.2 years | 21.8 years |
| Disability-free life expectancy at 65 | 11.2 years | 13.4 years | 15.9 years |
| Self-rated "very good" or "excellent" health (65 to 74) | 42% | 49% | 58% |
A Canadian who retires at 65 today can expect, on average, to live to approximately 87. Many will live significantly longer. The prospect of a 20 to 25 year retirement — potentially longer than an entire career — creates both financial anxiety and the practical reality that many 65-year-olds simply do not feel old, sick, or mentally diminished enough to stop working.
For many Canadians, the traditional retirement age of 65 was calibrated to a life expectancy of 68 to 72. It made sense to stop working when you had perhaps 3 to 7 years of retirement ahead. It makes considerably less intuitive sense to stop working at 65 when you may have 20 to 25 more years of active, engaged life ahead.
The Cognitive Benefits of Working
Growing evidence from gerontological research suggests that continued work — particularly work that involves social interaction, problem-solving, and cognitive engagement — is associated with:
- Slower cognitive decline
- Lower rates of dementia onset
- Better mental health and lower rates of depression
- Greater sense of purpose and identity
- Larger and more active social networks
A landmark 2024 Canadian study from the University of British Columbia found that retirement, when it involved complete withdrawal from all productive social activity, was associated with a 23% increase in the likelihood of clinically significant cognitive decline within five years. Work, volunteering, and structured social engagement were all protective.
This research has filtered into public awareness and has contributed to a cultural shift in how Canadians think about the desirability of full retirement. Many older Canadians now view some form of continued work not as a compromise but as a deliberate strategy for maintaining mental and physical health.
Reason 4: The Housing Cost Reality
Canada's housing affordability crisis has created retirement insecurity through two distinct mechanisms: it has made retirement savings inadequate by absorbing income that might otherwise have been saved, and it has raised the cost of retirement living to levels that require supplemental income.
How Housing Costs Eroded Retirement Savings
For Canadians who entered the housing market in the 1990s or early 2000s and have since paid off their mortgages, housing represents their primary financial asset. For Canadians who bought later — particularly those who purchased in major urban markets after 2010 — high carrying costs have competed directly with retirement savings throughout their prime earning years.
A household that spent $3,500 to $4,500 per month on mortgage payments in a major Canadian city between 2015 and 2025 had fundamentally less capacity to contribute to RRSPs and TFSAs than previous generations who paid mortgage rates of 6 to 8% on homes that cost $200,000 to $400,000. Despite lower nominal interest rates in recent decades, the dramatic appreciation in property values meant that absolute carrying costs were comparable or higher.
How High Rents Make Retirement Unaffordable
For Canadians who never owned property, or who sold and now rent in retirement, current Canadian rental costs make financially comfortable retirement on public pensions alone essentially impossible in most major cities:
| City | Average 1BR Rent (2026) | Monthly CPP + OAS (Max) | Monthly Shortfall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | $2,650 | $2,024 | $626 (before food, transport, health) |
| Toronto | $2,350 | $2,024 | $326 (before food, transport, health) |
| Calgary | $1,850 | $2,024 | Marginal surplus (very tight) |
| Ottawa | $1,900 | $2,024 | Marginal surplus (very tight) |
| Halifax | $1,550 | $2,024 | $474 surplus (modest but workable) |
| Winnipeg | $1,300 | $2,024 | $724 surplus (more manageable) |
For the majority of Canadians in major urban centers, maximum CPP and OAS combined do not cover average rental costs, let alone the full cost of retirement living. This mathematical reality leaves work as the primary option for maintaining an adequate standard of living.
Reason 5: The Shift in Work Itself
It is not only financial pressure driving post-retirement work. The nature of work has changed in ways that make continued employment more feasible, more flexible, and more appealing for older Canadians.
The Remote and Hybrid Work Revolution
COVID-19 permanently changed how a significant portion of knowledge workers work. Remote and hybrid arrangements, which allow workers to work from home some or all of the time, have substantially reduced several of the burdens that historically made continued work difficult for older Canadians:
- Physical commuting: Long commutes on public transit or by car are physically taxing and time-consuming. Remote work eliminates this burden entirely for home-based workers
- Presenteeism pressure: Office cultures that rewarded visible presence over output were challenging for older workers who may need to manage health appointments or energy levels. Remote work shifts evaluation toward outcomes
- Geographic flexibility: Older Canadians living outside major employment centers can now access jobs that were previously only available in downtown cores
The Gig Economy and Self-Employment
The growth of platform-based work, freelance markets, and self-employment has created new pathways for Canadians who want to work on their own terms after traditional retirement:
- Consulting and contract work: Experienced professionals can monetize decades of expertise through consulting without the full-time commitment of employment
- Online platform work: Skills like tutoring, writing, graphic design, accounting, and legal research can be offered through online platforms with complete schedule flexibility
- Part-time and seasonal work: Retailers, hospitality businesses, and professional services firms increasingly value experienced part-time workers who can fill specific needs without requiring full-time positions
This structural flexibility has reduced the binary nature of the retirement decision. Rather than choosing between full employment and full retirement, Canadians increasingly move through gradations: full-time to part-time, employment to consulting, active work to occasional projects.
Phased Retirement Programs
A growing number of Canadian employers, particularly in sectors experiencing severe labour shortages like healthcare, education, and professional services, have implemented formal phased retirement programs that allow senior employees to gradually reduce their hours over several years rather than stopping abruptly.
These programs benefit both employers (knowledge retention, reduced recruitment costs, continuity of client relationships) and employees (gradual adjustment to retirement income levels, maintained social engagement, continued benefit eligibility in some cases).
Reason 6: The Identity and Purpose Dimension
Not all post-retirement work is driven by financial pressure or structural incentives. A significant proportion of older Canadians who continue working do so because work provides something that retirement alone does not: structure, identity, social connection, and a sense of contribution.
Work as Identity
For Canadians who have built professional identities over decades, retirement can represent a disorienting identity loss. The answer to "what do you do?" has organized social interactions, defined peer groups, and provided a framework for self-understanding throughout an entire adult life. Removing work from that structure without replacing it with equally meaningful activity can leave a profound vacuum.
Canadian psychologists have noted rising rates of what is sometimes called "retirement identity crisis" — a period of disorientation, depression, and loss of purpose in the early retirement years that is more common among high-achieving individuals whose professional identity was central to their self-concept. Continued part-time work, consulting, or board service provides a bridge for these individuals while they develop new sources of purpose and identity.
Social Connection and Mental Health
Workplaces are, for many Canadians, the primary source of adult social connection. Colleagues form networks, friendships, and communities of shared interest that retirement can disrupt dramatically. For individuals whose social networks are primarily work-based — a common pattern among men in particular — retirement can result in significant social isolation.
Research from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) found that socially isolated seniors had a 26% higher risk of premature mortality and a 64% higher risk of clinically significant depression than seniors with robust social connections. Work, for many older Canadians, is not incidental to their social life — it is central to it.
The Volunteer-Work Continuum
Many post-retirement Canadians also engage in volunteer work that, while unpaid, fulfills similar psychological functions to paid employment: structure, social connection, sense of contribution, and identity. Canada's volunteer sector depends heavily on older Canadians, who contribute an estimated 580 million hours of volunteer time annually.
The distinction between paid work and volunteering in post-retirement life is increasingly blurred, with many Canadians mixing both in portfolios of activity that maintain engagement, contribution, and connection.
Reason 7: Healthcare Costs and Late-Life Financial Risk
The intersection of aging and healthcare costs has created a new category of retirement financial risk that previous generations largely did not face: the possibility of catastrophic late-life care expenses that can rapidly deplete even carefully accumulated savings.
Long-Term Care Costs
As detailed in our analysis of how Canada's aging population is impacting healthcare, the costs of residential long-term care in Canada can range from $40,000 to $95,000 per year for a private room, with the public system covering only a portion of this cost based on income. A senior requiring 3 to 5 years of high-care residential support faces potential out-of-pocket costs of $120,000 to $475,000 — costs that can eliminate the financial legacy planned for children and grandchildren, and that can create financial distress even for those who considered themselves adequately prepared for retirement.
This long-tail financial risk — the possibility of very high costs concentrated in the last years of life — has changed how many Canadians think about retirement savings. Rather than planning to arrive at retirement with enough assets to last 15 to 20 years, more thoughtful retirement planners are building in reserves for potential long-term care costs that could extend for several more years beyond that.
Working longer is one way to build those reserves. Even a few additional years of employment — particularly at the higher incomes typical of senior career stages — can add meaningfully to the financial buffer available for late-life care costs.
Drug Costs and Benefits Coverage
Canadians who retire from employment lose their workplace extended health benefits, including drug coverage, dental care, vision care, and paramedical services. The cost of maintaining equivalent coverage privately or through retiree benefits plans has increased substantially.
For seniors managing chronic conditions with ongoing prescription drug requirements, the cost difference between employer-provided drug benefits and provincial formulary coverage (which covers only a subset of medications) can be $2,000 to $8,000 annually. This coverage gap creates a financial incentive to maintain employment — and the benefits that come with it — for as long as possible.
Reason 8: The Labour Market Wants Older Workers
The final dimension of the post-retirement work trend is supply and demand: Canadian employers increasingly want older workers to stay, and are actively creating conditions to retain them.
Demographic Labour Market Pressure
Canada's workforce is shrinking relative to the demand for labour. As Baby Boomers retire in large numbers, the cohorts replacing them in the workforce are smaller due to declining birth rates since the 1970s. This demographic replacement gap is one of the primary drivers of Canada's immigration targets, but immigration alone cannot fully compensate for the pace of workforce departure at the senior end.
Employers across sectors — particularly healthcare, education, skilled trades, financial services, and professional services — are experiencing severe shortages of experienced workers. Retaining workers past traditional retirement age, or re-engaging recently retired workers, has become an important workforce strategy.
What Employers Are Doing to Retain Older Workers
| Strategy | Percentage of Large Canadian Employers Implementing (2026) |
|---|---|
| Formal phased retirement programs | 34% |
| Flexible scheduling for senior employees | 67% |
| Remote or hybrid work options | 72% |
| Reduced hours with maintained benefits | 28% |
| Retiree re-engagement programs | 21% |
| Knowledge transfer and mentorship roles | 44% |
| Modified physical duties for aging workers | 31% |
The competitive labour market has shifted bargaining power toward experienced older workers in a way that was not present in previous decades. Canadians who wish to continue working past 65 face considerably less discrimination and considerably more active recruitment than was the case 20 years ago.
The Policy Dimension: How Governments Are Responding
Canadian federal and provincial governments are grappling with the post-retirement work trend through a mix of policy adjustments, program redesigns, and labour market strategies.
Changes to CPP and OAS
As described above, the incentive architecture of CPP and OAS has been deliberately restructured to reward delayed claiming. The federal government also eliminated the mandatory retirement at 65 provision through amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act in 2009, removing a legal barrier to continued employment.
The Working While Receiving CPP Provisions
Canadians who continue working after beginning to collect CPP have the option to continue making CPP contributions through the Post-Retirement Benefit (PRB) program, which increases their CPP entitlement for each year of continued contribution. This provision creates a direct financial return on post-retirement work contributions and encourages continued engagement in the formal economy.
Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) Interactions
The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) provides additional income support to low-income OAS recipients. However, the GIS clawback rate — 50 cents per dollar of non-OAS income — creates a significant work disincentive for low-income seniors. A senior receiving GIS who earns $10,000 from part-time work loses $5,000 in GIS benefits, effectively paying a 50% marginal tax rate on that income before any actual income tax is applied.
This interaction between GIS and employment income is a policy design flaw that disproportionately penalizes the lowest-income seniors who most need supplemental earnings. Various policy advocates have called for reforms to reduce the GIS clawback rate or increase the employment income exemption.
Age-Friendly Workplace Initiatives
The federal government, through the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Employment and Social Development Canada, has funded research and programs aimed at making Canadian workplaces more age-friendly, including:
- Ergonomic workplace accommodations
- Flexible scheduling policies
- Age-inclusive recruitment and retention practices
- Anti-ageism training for managers and HR professionals
The Regional Dimension
The post-retirement work trend is not uniform across Canada. Regional differences in cost of living, labour market conditions, pension coverage, and cultural attitudes toward work and retirement create significant variation.
Post-65 Labour Force Participation by Province (2026)
| Province | Participation Rate (65+) | Key Driving Factors |
|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 22.1% | High housing costs, tech sector demand, health consciousness |
| Ontario | 21.4% | Housing costs, financial services and healthcare demand |
| Alberta | 19.8% | Energy sector fluctuations, relatively lower housing costs |
| Quebec | 16.2% | Strong public pension coverage, cultural attitudes |
| Atlantic Provinces | 18.1% | Lower pensions, limited employment options in some areas |
| Manitoba / Saskatchewan | 17.4% | Agriculture sector flexibility, modest retirement savings |
| Territories | 23.7% | Labour shortages, higher wage incentives |
British Columbia's high post-retirement participation rate reflects the intersection of the country's highest cost of living outside Toronto, a health-conscious and active senior demographic, and a robust labour market in healthcare, technology, and professional services that actively seeks experienced workers.
Quebec's lower rate reflects the province's historically stronger trade union culture, better defined benefit pension coverage in major industries, and a cultural tradition of more clear-cut retirement at standard ages.
The Social Implications
The trend of Canadians working past traditional retirement age is not without complexity and contradiction. While it reflects individual agency and adaptability, it also raises important questions about equity, generational dynamics, and the fairness of a retirement system that delivers such different outcomes to different Canadians.
The Two-Tier Reality
The post-retirement work landscape is deeply bifurcated by class, education, and occupational history:
Those who choose to work: University-educated professionals in knowledge-based occupations, with some retirement savings and the physical capacity to continue in cognitively engaging roles, often choose to work past 65 on favourable terms — consulting, part-time, flexible arrangements that allow them to pursue meaningful work while maintaining freedom.
Those who must work: Canadians with limited retirement savings, no workplace pension, physically demanding occupational histories, and employment in low-wage sectors are more likely to continue working out of financial necessity, often in physically taxing retail, service, or care roles, without the flexibility and terms available to their higher-income peers.
The statistics showing increasing post-retirement work participation mask this crucial distinction. The experience of a 68-year-old former professor consulting part-time on research projects she finds intellectually stimulating is fundamentally different from the experience of a 68-year-old grocery cashier working 30 hours per week because her CPP and OAS do not cover rent.
Generational Dynamics
The continued labour force participation of older Canadians has generated some tension around questions of generational equity in the labour market. In sectors with limited advancement opportunities, the continued presence of senior workers can create bottlenecks for younger workers seeking promotions. In sectors with labour shortages, the opposite is true: older workers are filling gaps that would otherwise constrain economic activity.
The evidence on whether older workers "take jobs" from younger workers is mixed. In tight labour markets — which Canada has experienced throughout most of the 2020s — older worker retention tends to supplement rather than substitute for younger worker employment. In slack labour markets, the relationship is more complex.
What This Means for Individual Canadians
The rise of post-retirement work is ultimately a story about individual Canadians navigating a transformed retirement landscape. For those approaching retirement age, the implications are practical and immediate:
Planning for a Longer Work Life
If you are in your 40s or 50s, the statistical likelihood that you will work in some capacity past age 65 is meaningful. Planning for this reality — rather than assuming a clean break at 65 — allows for more realistic financial planning, more deliberate career management, and better psychological preparation.
This might mean:
- Investing in skills updating and professional development through your late career to maintain marketability
- Building a professional network that will support consulting or contract work after formal employment ends
- Considering the physical sustainability of your current occupation through your late 60s
- Having honest conversations with your employer about phased retirement options
- Understanding how CPP and OAS delayed claiming can interact with continued employment income
The Financial Planning Imperative
Perhaps the most actionable takeaway from the post-retirement work trend is the enormous value of early, comprehensive retirement financial planning. The Canadians who are working past retirement out of financial necessity are disproportionately those who delayed retirement planning, under-contributed to savings vehicles during their prime earning years, or failed to account for the full cost of retirement living in a high-inflation, high-housing-cost environment.
Understanding the best age to start retirement planning is the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one. The research is unambiguous: starting earlier, contributing consistently, using tax-advantaged vehicles fully, and planning specifically for late-life healthcare and care costs are the most reliable predictors of genuine retirement choice — the ability to stop working when you want to, rather than when financial circumstances finally permit.
Embracing the New Retirement
For many Canadians, the most valuable reframe may be letting go of the binary retirement model entirely. The idea that there is a single day on which work ends and leisure begins — that retirement is an on-off switch rather than a gradual transition — may not serve modern Canadians well.
A retirement that includes 15 to 20 hours of meaningful, flexible, engaging work per week can simultaneously provide supplemental income, maintain social connection, support cognitive health, and preserve a sense of purpose and contribution. Planned deliberately, this model offers more of what Canadians actually want from their later years than either full-time employment or complete withdrawal.
The Canadians thriving in their late 60s and 70s are, increasingly, those who approached this transition with intentionality: thinking carefully about what they wanted, building financial foundations that gave them options, and finding forms of work and contribution that aligned with their values and capacities rather than defaulting to either extreme.
Frequently Asked Questions
At what age do most Canadians actually retire? The average actual retirement age in Canada in 2026 is approximately 64.8, up from 61.5 in 2000. However, this average conceals enormous variation. A significant and growing proportion of Canadians continue working in some capacity well past this age, while others in physically demanding occupations retire earlier due to health limitations.
Does working after 65 affect CPP and OAS payments? Receiving CPP and OAS while working is fully permitted. There is no CPP clawback based on employment income. OAS has an income-tested recovery tax (commonly called the "clawback") that begins at approximately $90,997 in net income (2026) and fully eliminates OAS at approximately $148,000. Most post-retirement workers earn well below these thresholds. GIS, however, is affected by employment income at much lower income levels.
Is there an age at which Canadians must stop working? No. Mandatory retirement based solely on age is illegal under the Canadian Human Rights Act for federally regulated employers and under equivalent provincial human rights legislation. Employers cannot legally force an employee to retire at 65 or any other age.
Are more men or women working past retirement age? Men have historically had higher post-retirement labour force participation rates, but the gender gap has narrowed significantly. In 2026, 36.1% of men aged 65 to 69 are in the labour force, compared to 31.4% of women — a gap of 4.7 percentage points, down from over 10 percentage points in 2000. Women's increased post-retirement work partly reflects their lower average retirement savings (driven by career interruptions, lower average earnings, and more part-time work history) and partly reflects genuine occupational preference.
What are the tax implications of working while collecting CPP and OAS? CPP, OAS, and employment income are all taxable. As a senior worker, your combined income from all sources is subject to regular federal and provincial income tax. However, seniors over 65 are eligible for the Age Amount tax credit (federally, up to $8,396 in 2026, reduced at higher incomes) and the Pension Income Amount credit on eligible pension income. Effective tax planning, including income splitting with a spouse and TFSA withdrawals (which are tax-free), can meaningfully reduce the tax burden on post-retirement income.
How does continued work affect retirement savings? Canadians who continue working can continue contributing to TFSAs (no age limit, no employment income requirement) up to the annual contribution limit. RRSP contributions require earned income and can be made until age 71 (at which point RRSPs must be converted to RRIFs). Continued work also allows for Post-Retirement Benefit (PRB) contributions to CPP, increasing future monthly CPP payments.
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Sources
- Statistics Canada: Labour Force Survey — Older Workers — https://www.statcan.gc.ca/
- Statistics Canada: Canadian Income Survey — Retirement Savings — https://www.statcan.gc.ca/
- Employment and Social Development Canada: CPP and OAS Statistics — https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development.html
- Canadian Institute for Retirement Research: Retirement Readiness Report 2025 — https://www.cirr.ca/
- Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging — https://www.clsa-elcv.ca/
- Financial Planning Standards Council: Retirement Planning in Canada 2025 — https://www.fpsc.ca/
- C.D. Howe Institute: Pension Coverage and Retirement Income Adequacy — https://www.cdhowe.org/
- CMHC: Rental Market Report 2026 — https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/
- Canadian Human Rights Commission: Age Discrimination in the Workplace — https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/
- Conference Board of Canada: Older Workers in Canada — https://www.conferenceboard.ca/
- Environics Analytics: Retirement Attitudes Survey 2025 — https://www.environicsanalytics.com/
- Canada Revenue Agency: Seniors and Retirement Tax Guide 2026 — https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency.html
- Canadian Federation of Pensioners: Pension Coverage Trends — https://www.pensioners.ca/
- Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions: Pension Plan Coverage — https://www.osfi-bsif.gc.ca/
- UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research: Retirement and Cognitive Health — https://www.chspr.ubc.ca/
