The time when Australians retire has seemingly plateaued at ages not seen since the 1970s.
It comes as the pension age has reached a new high, flexible working options allowed people who wanted to work to continue doing so, and the proportion of new people in the workforce aged 55+ grew when the COVID lockdowns started, then shrunk as borders reopened.
An analysis of Census data and yearly labour force statistics by KPMG shows in both 2022 and 2023, the expected retirement age was 66.2 years for men and 64.8 years for women - the highest for each gender since 1972 and 1971 respectively.
There has been a gradual creep in the retirement age in the past 20 years. In 2003, the respective ages for people to retire were 63.3 years for men and 61.6 years for women, but 2022 and 2023 suggested a plateau.
KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said improved job flexibility in 'knowledge-intensive' roles, plus tighter labour market conditions, meant highly educated Australians stayed in the workforce longer.
"The adoption of working from home has made many older Australians in professional jobs realise that they could 'semi-retire' and continue to dabble in the workforce from home or even a coastal location," he said.
People aged 55+ represented the highest proportion of growth in the labour force during the COVID lockdown years.
Between 2019 and 2021, the Australian labour force grew by 185,000 people, with those aged 55+ representing about 70 per cent (127,000). This fell to 21.3 per cent by 2023 as international migration returned and the under-55 labour force grew.
"Even in a tight labour market, we may have reached a plateau in the expected age of retirement, suggesting we cannot expect older workers to continue working longer," Terry said.
"This is because we simply can't find enough older workers to sustain the growth that occurred during the COVID-19 era."
Terry said since the pandemic started, women were increasingly drawn to full-time work, while men participated in part-time employment.
The retirement age to qualify for the pension increased to 67 years in July 2023.
Where people lived affected the expected age of retirement in different cities.
For example, Greater Sydney and Greater Brisbane had lower expected ages than other cities, which might linked to retirees leaving the big smoke for nearby coastal areas, such as the Central Coast in NSW and Gold Coast in QLD.
