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Incomes and Hardship in Early Transitions to Retirement*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2014

Kevin Milligan
Kevin Milligan*
Affiliation:
Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia
*
†La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à : / Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to: Kevin Milligan, Ph.D. Vancouver School of Economics University of British Columbia 997–1873 East Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (kevin.milligan@ubc.ca)
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Abstract

Canada and other countries are changing the age for public pension eligibility. A policy concern is the welfare of those individuals exiting the labour force before the age of pension eligibility. This study, through the use of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics data, addressed early retirements by (a) examining the incomes of those who are not working at near-retirement ages, and (b) examining how these Canadians avoid economic hardship. It found that around three-quarters of those not working have been able to avoid low-income status. Most important for avoiding low income are other family income sources, good health, and employment-related pension income.

Résumé

Canada et d'autres pays sont en train de changer l'âge d'admissibilité de pension public. Le bien-être de ces personnes qui quittent le marché du travail avant d'atteindre l'âge d'éligibilité de retraite est une préoccupation politique. Grâce à l'utilisation des données de l'Enquête sur la dynamique du travail et du revenu (EDTR), cette étude porte sur les pré-retraites par (a) l'examination des revenus de ceux qui ne travaillent pas à un âge proche de la retraite, et (b) examinant comment ces Canadiens ont evité des difficultés économiques. Il a constaté que près des trois quarts de ceux qui ne travaillent pas ont été en mesure d'éviter une situation de faible revenu. Le plus important pour éviter les revenus bas sont d'autres sources de revenus de la famille, une bonne santé, et les revenus de pensions liées à l'emploi.

Keywords

agingelderlylow-incomepovertyretirementseniorsvieillissmentaînéspauvretéretraitepersonnes âgées
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2014 

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Footnotes

*

This study was produced in the British Columbia Interuniversity Research Data Centre using data provided by Statistics Canada. The resulting work, its interpretation, and the conclusions are entirely those of the author and not necessarily those of the sponsoring or data-providing organizations. This article is a shorter version of Milligan (2013), funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada through the Canadian Labour Market and Skills Researcher Network (CLSRN). It also builds on Milligan (2010), funded by the Social Security Administration through the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). I am thankful for the funding. I thank the reviewers for several helpful comments that improved the article.

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