Canada has seen a profound sea-change in its labour force since the late 1990s. And the most eye-opening trend revealed in a recent report from Statistics Canada is the number of workers in their 50sand 60s continuing to be active in the country's workforce. In other words, 'Freedom 55' is an old-hat concept.

"Very much so," says Philip Cross, the Stats Can economist who authored the report, Recent Changes in the Labour Market. A range of economic factors have come into play, resulting in people in their50s and 60s remaining active on the job. At the same time, employers are offering greater flexibility in helping that happen, he says.

Workers over age 55 in particular have contributed one-third of all about force growth in the last ten years, reversing several decades of declining participation, the study reports. (see graph)

The results came as a major surprise even to the staff at Statistics Canada itself."

There appears to be-on top of everything else-an attitudinal shift,” Cross believes. "It's not just true that the industry needs these workers, but these people are willing to continue working."

It's not only for personal financial reasons that older Canadians want to remain employed. Other factors, including the need of older workers to maintain active lives, while dramatic increases in life expectancy become a reality, is a major influence, he says. Even when the stock market was booming in the late '90s, the workforce participation rate of older Canadians was already starting to move sharply upward.

"So even though people had healthy (account) balances and they could have retired, they were choosing to work. Even when the stock market was booming and people had lots of wealth, people were still choosing to stay in the labour market. One can speculate that it's partly related to (the fact) people expect to live longer.

"Cross cites himself as a perfect example. "I'm 50 years old and my80-year-old mother is telling me 'whatever you do, don't retire too soon. You're just going to end up sitting around forever'. That was sort of the old attitude to retirement: you retire at 65, you sit at home and you do absolutely nothing and then you have the cardiac arrest in three years. Presumably my generation has heard this."

That older generation, born in the 1920s and '30s, was the first to experience extended post-retirement years, largely due to extension of life expectancy-far different from 100 years ago, Cross explains.

"The model in the early 20th Century was that (retirement at) 65 was set because that was sort of the maximum life span-you were expected to drop dead soon. It was really my parents' generation that was the first to live a long time and realize you can't just sit around for 15 or 20 years.

"Now baby-boomers arriving at the 'traditional' retirement age are expecting to live 30 or 40 more years. "So what are you going to do? One is, keep your hand in work and there certainly are lots of articles suggesting that employers will have to become more flexible."

While statistics show limited growth in part-time employment of older workers-one solution that has been proposed-other types of flexibility are being introduced.

"For example, longer vacation time," Cross says. "You can make that trip to Europe and come back and work full-time because you’ve got more time off-that's one of the ways employers can be flexible. But most of that is still to come-we're really just getting into the leading edge."

A growing number of employers are already adopting policies to accommodate older workers in various positions, which is in their own best business interest, he adds, pointing out that that one-third of all employment gains in sectors, such as construction and mining in the past decade have been older people. "But there’s also two-thirds that's something else," he says.

In addition, recently rejuvenated industries, including resources, mining, construction, even government, are keeping their older workers, not only because of a skills shortage, but also for the mentoring skills they offer as they begin to hire a younger workforce.

"There'll be time for them to acquire their skills from the older workers before the older ones retire, which is much better for an industry in the long-term," Cross adds. "There's a mutual decision there. There's got to be both demand and supplies-it can't just be older people willing to work, but firms are also willing to keep them on or hire them."

For the complete Statistics Canada: Labour Force report, go to:
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/050318/td050318.htm.