Sydney, May 22: Australians are still intending to retire, on average, between their 65th and 66th birthdays, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
“While the average age that people intend to retire has risen over time, it hasn’t changed much in the last 10 years. This average has been between 65.0 years and 65.6 years for close to a decade, since 2014-15.
“On average, men intend to retire slightly later than women, but this gap is closing. In 2022-23, there was around half a year difference between men and women, compared to a year difference a decade ago, and a two-year difference around 10 years before that,”Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics said.
The data reveals that workers aged 45 years and over in the Agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry had the highest average intended retirement age at 68.3 years, while those in the Mining industry had the lowest at 63.7 years.
In terms of actual retirement age, the trend shows an increase. “In 2022-23, people who had retired in the past 20 years said that they did so, on average, at 61.4 years. This average has risen from 58.5 years in 2014-15 and from 57.4 years in 2004-05,” Jarvis said.
Retirees from the Arts and recreation services industry retired, on average, later than all other industries, at 64.4 years.
The youngest average age of retirement was in the accommodation and food services industry, where retirees, on average, retired at 58.5 years.
In 2022-23, a Government pension or allowance was still the main source of personal income at retirement for 43 per cent of retirees, followed by Superannuation, an annuity, or private pension at 27 per cent.
“Over the past decade the number of people who said they had no personal income has fallen from 25 per cent in 2012-13 down to 12 per cent in 2022-23. In particular, the percentage of women reporting no personal income has dropped considerably, down from 37 per cent to 18 per cent,” Jarvis added.
“The number of women who relied on their partner’s income as their main source of funds for meeting living costs at retirement has fallen by more than 10 percentage points over the decade, dropping from 44 per cent in 2012-13 to 31 per cent in 2022-23.”
The most common factors influencing older workers’ decision to retire in 2022-23 were financial security (36 per cent) and personal health or physical abilities (22 per cent).
Around one in eight retirees (14 per cent) cited reaching the eligibility age for an age (or service) pension as a main factor.
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