Which of Australia's Baby Boomers Expect to Delay their Retirement? An Occupational Overview

Abstract

This paper examines the retirement intentions of Australian Baby Boomers by occupation. Workers from 14 of 35 occupations expect to retire earlier than the national average of 64.3 years, with 'white collar' workers more likely to be among the early retiring, and 'blue collar' workers among the late. Early-retiring intentions will be reinforced by short gaps between preferred and expected retirement age, relatively high levels of financial security and formal discussion about retirement, yet lower than average levels of desire for transition-to-retirement arrangements; late-retiring intentions will be reinforced by more or less the opposite. Early-retiring occupations are also the largest and have the potential to cost the economy 1.26 million person-years of working life. The findings indicate that policy interventions should be targeted, that interventions should include non-economic inducements and reforms, including efforts to ensure a healthier longer work life, and that Baby Boomer retirement needs to be 'managed' at an institutional level.