Twitter

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Canada: Older Workers Dominating Gains in Labor Market

According to "Older Workers Stampede Into The Labour Market," a special report published by TD Economics, older workers have dominated the gains in the Canadian labor market in recent years. Among other things, the report finds that Canadians aged 60 years and over have accounted for about one-third of all net job gains since the economic recovery began in July 2009, even though they only account for 8% of the total labor force. Some of these gains can be attributable to the fact that many older Canadians are delaying retirement and staying in the workforce longer.
[T]his is not simply a story of those in the 60-65 age range, but also of those older than 70. Employment for these individuals has surged by 55,000 positions since then (a 37% gain). Even more surprising is that almost 100,000 net jobs were added in the 60+ age group at the depth of the recession. By comparison, their younger counterparts (ages 59 and under) recorded well over 500,000 net losses over the same period.
TD Economics also suggests that some of the growing preference for older workers reflects their tendency to favor less rigid work arrangements, since it is estimated that upwards of one-third of all work arrangements are now "non-standard"--including part-time and temporary work, and self-employment.

Source: TD Economics Special Report (February 23, 2012)

No comments: