Keeping Australia's older workers in the labour force. A policy perspective

Australian Journal of Social Issues, Winter, 2008 by Maggie Walter, Natalie Jackson, Bruce Felmingham

The findings reported in this paper are weighted to be nationally representative. Comparison of the unweighted sample attributes with 2001 census data finds that the ASRAM sample is comparable with national and state averages, but more female, slightly older and slightly better educated. As show, n in Table 1, in common with most survey data, women are over-represented amongst respondents (57% of respondents compared to 46% of workforce in this age group) and men similarly under-represented. The sample is similar to national age dispersion and education patterns apart from a higher proportion of respondents with bachelor or post-graduate qualifications and a small over-representation of those in the oldest age bracket and a matching under-representation of those in the youngest age bracket. Those from non-English speaking backgrounds are also under-represented. The occupational structure, employment status and partnered status of the sample closely match national averages apart from an over-representation of professionals. The sample's socio-demographic characteristics, therefore, are broadly compatible with those from the general population of older Australian workers, although the gender bias towards female respondents should be kept in mind in interpreting these findings.

Most of the study's respondents are Australian-born, partnered, and just over one-third hold a bachelor degree or higher. The respondents are also predominantly in full time employment and well-skilled, with a substantial proportion in professional or para-professional occupations. Those listed as 'other' are either working in more than one job or are self-employed. More than three quarters are also employees, working for either a private (46%) or government (32%) employer (not shown here).

While socio-demographic attributes have obvious implications for retirement outcomes, for length reasons, this paper predominantly reports full sample results. Results analysed by gender, occupational status and age group in more detail will be reported in later papers.

Retirement Policy Options

The ASRAM study collected data on attitudes to, and interaction with, current and new retirement policy along three different dimensions. The first dimension examines current policies. The second assesses respondents' preferred policy options for coping with ageing population issues. The third canvasses respondents' attitudes towards two different sets of policy options for extending older workers workforce activity. All three dimensions are reported here.

Willingness to Consider Working Longer

A substantial proportion of respondents are aware of population ageing and associated labour market and fiscal policy issues. Eighty-three percent report being aware or very, aware of government concerns about the ageing of Australia's population and 45 percent say that government concerns on the need for Australians to work longer have influenced their own retirement thinking either a great deal or to some extent. A majority of older workers are also prepared to consider remaining longer in the workforce. As shown in the following figure, just over half of the respondents (55%) are either very likely or likely to consider extending their participation in the workforce past their expected retirement age, and around 44 percent are very likely or likely to consider working past the age of 65. If we add the six per cent who indicated that they never wanted to retire (n=156) and were therefore not asked either retirement postponement question, then at least half of the current older workforce will consider working longer and/or working past the current generally accepted retirement age of 65 years. These figures are in line with Newspoll data which found 43 percent expect to continue working past age 65 (Hamilton & Hamilton 2006).