ABS figures reckon around 45,000 more people aged 65 and older are in the workforce than at the same time last year. Age prejudice still lurks but economic necessity has taken charge.
It’s not surprising more older people are going back to work given the pension age is now 67 andunemployment across the economy is holding near five-decade lows at 3.5 per cent.
Andrew McPherson retired a few years ago, after being injured from decades of working as a fitter and turner. But seeing his parents struggle financially gave him second thoughts.
“They ran out of money in their late 70s,” he said. “I’m not working for today, I’m working for when I’m in my 70s and 80s,” he added.
Professional services recruitment firm Robert Half surveyed hundreds of businesses and found that 58 per cent had hired a retiree during the past year.
“Immigration has been down through the Covid-19 pandemic and still hasn’t yet got back to the levels that it was pre-pandemic,” said Robert Half director Andrew Brushfield.
Despite economists and the Reserve Bank expecting the labour market to soften as the economy slows, Mr Brushfield believes the skills and experience many older workers can bring will remain in demand.
“We’re finding that newly retired people can bring a combination of commercial acumen, technical skills and the ability to pick things up very quickly,” he said.
“Not all the newly retired people are looking for full time employment, so employers need to show some flexibility. It might be two, three, four days a week, rather than five.”