Australians Plan to Keep Working

According to a new survey, 650,000 Australians aged 45 and over never intend to retire from work.

It’s just one of the surprising findings in a recent ABS study. The other was that while some Australians want to keep working, worryingly, another 400,000 believe retirement may not be an option for them.

The ABS survey found just under 4 million workers said they would retire, and 36% of these said their age of retirement would be dependent on their financial security. The other major reasons for retirement include health and eligibility for the age pension.

Of the 8.5 million Australians aged 45 years more, more than half, 4.9 million, were employed full time, while 3.2 million had permanently retired. 41% of people over the age of 45 in full-time work  wanted to work part-time at some point before their retirement.

The average age of retirement for Australians is now 61.