Canada | Older workers age 60-plus represent 8 per cent of the workforce, but account for 30 per cent of new job gains – thestar.com

The face of the Canadian worker is changing.

Gone are the days of hitting the magic retirement age, and heading off to travel and enjoy life.

More Canadians are working past 60, some well into their 70s, often because they can’t afford to retire.

And getting squeezed in some cases, are other job-seekers, including new graduates. Unemployment rates for those 15-24 have remained high, at 14.5 per cent in January.

Using Statistics Canada data, TD economist Francis Fong points out in a new report, Older Workers Stampede into the Labour Market, that since mid-2009, when the economic recovery began, until January 2012, people 60 or older have accounted for about one-third of all net new job gains.

via Older workers age 60-plus represent 8 per cent of the workforce, but account for 30 per cent of new job gains – thestar.com.