Canada has one of the highest proportions of workers in the world who feel they will never be able to retire fully, according to an HSBC survey released September 18.
Canada ranked third in the survey of 15 countries, which found 17% of Canadians feel they will have to keep working in some form or another for the rest of their lives – five percentage points higher than the global average of 12%.
The United Kingdom (19%) and the United States (18%) were the top two countries.
“People want to slow down in later life and, while some welcome the chance to continue working, many may not,” said Betty Miao, executive vice-president, retail banking and wealth management for HSBC Bank Canada.
“Where some people regard a comfortable retirement as a natural entitlement, for a growing number this is not the case.”
The survey did find, however, that not all reasons Canadians cited for staying employed were negative. Nearly half (47%) of respondents say they would like to keep physically and mentally active, and 41% say they like working.
Other survey findings included:
- those who are divorced or separated were more likely than average to feel they would never be able to retire (24% of Canadians, 20% globally);
- 54% of Canadian retirees said they have less money to live on than they expected; and
- 35% feel they would like to keep working longer than planned in order to ease the transition into being fully retired.
