Hiking retirement age could help labour force in Atlantic Canada: report

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 30, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

A labour marketplace reappraisal by the Toronto-based C.D. Howe Institute says raising the status property to 67 could assistance code precocious occupation vacancies in the Atlantic provinces.

Parisa Mahboubi, a elder argumentation expert astatine the institute who co-authored the study, told CBC Radio's Information Morning Nova Scotia the survey looked astatine indicators similar productivity and GDP per capita crossed each provinces.

She said the 4 Atlantic provinces person the lowest labour information rates for seniors. 

Nova Scotia, successful particular, has precocious occupation vacancies and a debased unemployment rate, she said.

A gradual summation successful the status age, she said, could assistance guarantee an adequate workforce that cannot be addressed by migration alone. 

Mahboubi said research shows that determination are wellness benefits erstwhile seniors are active.

The request for flexible enactment arsenic a mode of supporting older workers is echoed by Janice Keefe, seat of the section of household studies and gerontology astatine Mount Saint Vincent University and the manager of the Nova Scotia Centre connected Aging.

Keefe told CBC Radio galore seniors are besides caregivers to their parents oregon spouses, and workplaces request to accommodate their caregiving duties.

Any projected alteration would apt impact antithetic socio-economic groups unevenly, Keefe noted.

People with backstage pensions would beryllium little affected than low-income workers relying connected authorities pensions, she said.

Keefe said different situation is that older workers often look ageism successful the workplace.

Like Mahboubi, Keefe said staying successful the workforce tin beryllium beneficial to seniors.

"We bash cognize that continued societal engagement is truly important for our well-being," she said.

"A lot of radical person a batch of attachment and aforesaid fulfilment from their enactment … work is important, and your enactment relationships whitethorn beryllium precise invaluable to you."