Canada – The baby boomer generation is starting to retire RBC report says

A new Royal Bank analysis suggests the Canada’s labour market is already starting to feel the impact of the aging workforce.

The RBC paper notes that, given soft job growth in the past year and the corresponding decline in the labour participation rate, it is easy — and likely inaccurate — to jump to the conclusion that many Canadians are becoming too discouraged to look for work.

But economist Nathan Jansen says the most likely explanation is just that the baby boomer generation is starting to retire.

The evidence for such a conclusion is there has been an increase in the number of Canadians classified as not in the workforce.

It turns out that 65 year olds and older are responsible for most of the increase in the not-in-the workforce category — not because they are discouraged but because they have retired, says Jansen.

He points out that back in 2007 Statistics Canada predicted that the participation rate would start to fall sharply going forward because of the aging population, with the decline becoming noticeable in 2011.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via Aging workers aren’t giving up on finding work, they’re simply retiring: RBC | Toronto Star.