[Article] Golden years disappearing as Canadian seniors in the workforce hit all-time high

Originally published: April 28, 2026

Canadians’ retirement years are dwindling as a record number of seniors stay in the workforce, many by choice, but a growing number from necessity.

The labour force participation rate of Canadians aged 65 and older rose to 15.2 per cent in 2025, the highest since Statistics Canada began tracking the data in 1976.

That is almost 1.2 million seniors who were either employed or looking for work in 2025 — more than five per cent of the total workforce.

And thousands of them have more than one job. StatsCan said 43,500 workers aged 65 years and older worked multiple jobs last year.

Canada’s senior population has swelled in recent years as the last of that huge cohort, the baby boomers, move into their sixth decade. Almost 20 per cent of Canadians were 65 and older in 2025, a share that is expected to rise close to a quarter of the population in the 2030s.

But their rise in the workforce isn’t just because there are more seniors — a higher proportion of them are working as well, said StatsCan.

This wasn’t always the case. Twenty-six years ago just six per cent of seniors participated in the workforce. That rate has grown steadily since, rising to 14.9 per cent in 2019. After a sharp dip during COVID-19, the rate now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.

Canada’s average retirement age has changed as well. The average declined steadily from 64.6 years in 1976 to an all-time low of 60.9 years in 1997. But then the trend reversed.

Last year it hit a record high of 65.4 years. That average is lower for public sector workers at 62.6, but higher for those in the private sector at 66 years. The self-employed work on average until 68.4 years.

So why are more Canadian seniors continuing to work? For some it is a choice, but for a growing number of others — almost half — it is necessity, says Statistics Canada.

More than 600,000 Canadian seniors live under the poverty line, and according to a report by the Montreal Economic Institute, Ottawa isn’t making it easy for them to work.

Seniors with no income beyond Old Age Security qualify for the maximum Guaranteed Income Supplement of just over $13,000 a year. But if they take a job, every dollar earned after the first $5,000 reduces the GIS benefit by 50 cents, said the report.

Employment among GIS recipients jumped by 56 per cent between 2014 and 2022.

“A growing number of seniors are working to make ends meet; the very least Ottawa could do is not punish them for doing so,” says Jason Dean, associate researcher at the MEI and author of the report.