Older Australians

Older Australians are important contributors to Australia’s labour force. Studies have demonstrated that for older people who are able to and wish to continue working, employment can provide a variety of benefits (Waddell and Burton 2006). Employment can assist in maintaining good health, promoting diversity in work environments and reducing demand on publicly-funded pensions. This page explores the workforce participation and retirement patterns of older Australians (aged 65 and over).

Throughout this page, ‘older people’ refers to people aged 65 and over. Where this definition does not apply, the age group in focus is specified. The ‘Older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’ feature article defines older people as aged 50 and over. This definition does not apply to this page, with Indigenous Australians aged 50–64 not included in the information presented. 

Participating in the workforce

In April 2021, approximately 619,000 older Australians (aged 65 and over) were employed in the labour force. Of these older workers, 3 in 5 (61%) were men and 2 in 5 were women (39%) (ABS 2021b).

Australians are increasingly working to older ages. In the 20 years leading up to April 2021, the workforce participation rate of older Australians more than doubled (from 6.1% in 2001 to 15% in 2021) (ABS 2021b). Increases in labour force participation for men and women over this period have been substantial—the participation rate for older men almost doubled (from 10% to 19%), while older women’s participation almost quadrupled (from 3.0% to 11%) (Figure 9.1) (ABS 2021b).

Older Australians may remain in or return to the workforce for many reasons. These reasons may differ between individuals, as people take into consideration their health and economic circumstances, as well as job availability, working arrangements and family commitments. The type of work being undertaken, informal caring commitments, the presence of an employed spouse or partner, and presence of additional supporting income are also likely to contribute to individual decision making around employment. These decisions have flow-on effects to workforce participation rates. Older Australians today also have an increased life expectancy and increased years of disability-free life (for more information, see ‘Life expectancy’ in Health—status and functioning). As such, individuals may have both an increased need and an increased capacity to work longer. Furthermore, changing eligibility criteria for access to superannuation and the Age Pension may see an increasing number of people aged 65 and over remain in the workforce (for more information, see Income and finance). 

Working arrangements

In May 2021, employed older people were most commonly working as professionals, managers, and clerical and administrative workers (ABS 2021c). Older people were most commonly employed in the industries of health care and social assistance, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and education and training. Their roles were most likely to be as professionals, managers or clerical and administrative workers (ABS 2021c) (Table 9.1).

Table 9.1: Most common form of employment for older Australians by sex, May 2021

Notes:

1. Employment data taken at May 2021.
2.  ‘Labourers’ includes, but is not limited to, occupations such as cleaners, laundry workers, construction and mining labourers, farm, forestry and garden workers.
3. 'Older Australians’ refers to people aged 65 and over.

Source: ABS 2021c.

In April 2021, 49% of older employed persons were employed full-time (301,200 people), and 51% were employed part-time (317,800 people) (ABS 2021b). In younger age groups (those aged 25–54), around 3 in 4 employed people worked full-time. For those aged 55–64, this reduced to 2 in 3, and for those aged 65 and over, 1 in 2 (ABS 2021b) (see Table 9.2).

Table 9.2: Proportion of people employed full- and part-time by age group, 2021

Note: Proportion of people data taken at April 2021.

Source: ABS 2021b.

In April 2021, almost 2 in 5 (58%) employed older men worked on a full-time basis, and over 1 in 3 (35%) employed women. Almost 3 in 4 (72%) older Australians employed on a full-time basis were men. The split of older men and women in part-time employment was almost equal (50%) (Figure 9.2) (ABS 2021b).  

The proportions of older Australians employed full-time and part-time have remained relatively consistent over the past 6 years for both men and women (ABS 2021b). Since April 2016, over 7 in 10 older full-time workers have been men (74% in 2016, 72% in 2021) (ABS 2021b). For older part-time employees, the proportions of men and women have remained at approximately 50% each (ABS 2021b).

Underemployment and unemployment

Some older people are either working less than they would like to or are looking for work (also referred to as underemployment and unemployment, respectively; see ‘Key terms’ box below). For older Australians (aged 65 and over) in April 2021:

• 6.1% of employed people were underemployed.
• The unemployment rate was 2.9% compared with 1.1% in April 2011 (Figure 9.3) and 2.1% in April 2001. Of the 18,400 older Australians who were unemployed, approximately half (52% or 9,500 people) were looking for part-time work only, while the remainder (48% or 8,900 people) were looking for full-time work.
• The underutilisation rate was 8.8%, 5.7% in April 2011 and 5.1% in April 2001 (ABS 2021a).

Labour force participation rates among older people (aged 65 and over) have increased over time, and vary between countries. Australia and Canada have very similar rates (both 15% in 2019) (OECD 2021). Western European countries have lower rates (for example, 5.1% in Italy in 2019), while some other Pacific countries have much higher rates (for example, 24% in New Zealand) (OECD 2021) (OECD 2021). These differences may reflect the global variation in both the longevity of the older population and the availability of social supports, such as government-funded pensions.

Retirement

The ABS defines retirement as requiring people to have previously worked in a job for any duration, including jobs that lasted for less than 2 weeks, and have retired from work or looking for work, and did not intend to look for or take up work in the future (ABS 2020).

In 2018–19, there were 3.9 million retirees in Australia aged 45 and over, with the average retirement age being 55.4. Men were more likely to retire at older ages than women (the average age at retirement was 60 for men and 52 for women) (ABS 2020).

The most common reasons for retirement in 2018–19 were:

• reaching the retirement age or eligible for superannuation or pension
• having a sickness, injury or disability
• being retrenched or dismissed or there was no work available (ABS 2020).

In 2018–19, just under 1 in 5 (18%) people aged 45–64 reported that they intended to retire before age 65, 1 in 3 (33%) intended to retire at between 65 and 69, and 1 in 10 (11%) after age 70. A further 2 in 5 (38%) reported that they did not know when they intended to retire. The average intended retirement age was 66 (66 for men and 65 for women) (ABS 2020) (Table 9.3).

Table 9.3: Intended age of retirement, 2008–09 to 2018–19

Source: ABS 2020, various releases.

Experiences after retirement can potentially lead to people returning to the workforce. In 2018–19, approximately 143,500 people in the labour force had previously retired (ABS 2020). Reasons for returning to work included financial need, boredom, and other reasons (that they no longer needed to care for a partner or family member, the death of a partner, or separation or divorce from a partner) (ABS 2020). For information about income during retirement, see Income and finance.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on older Australians’ employment and work, see:

• ABS Labour force, Australia.

Information about volunteering and informal care can be found in the Social support.