Expected retirement age slowly going upBY ALEX DUNNIN | TUESDAY, 10 DEC 2013 12:35PMDespite the policy push for increasing the retirement age, most Australians are still retiring in their early fifties even though more future retirees expect to have to keep working beyond age 70. Related News |
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This is an overly simplistic interpretation of the ABS data that doesn't account for the ABS's on note on how the average age of retirement is not representative. The population is skewed because those who retire early are more likely to be alive still and therefore participate in the survey.
To counter this skew, the ABS produce a series of other averages based on those who have retired recently, such as 'retired in the last 5 years'. The average age there is 61.5 years.
This is similar to what the OECD reports on retirement age. That uses net withdrawals from the labour market based on labour force participation rates. While by no means perfect, it isn't skewed by survey responses like those in the Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS). And such retirement rates can easily be replicated using Census data.
If personal longevity awareness was more widespread people might make more informed decisions about retirement. Longevity awareness includes how long a person might live and why that may be different from average, what's happening in the community to reflect longer life expectancies, the longer term prospects of government support, longer term caring, dependency and end of life issues. Longevity awareness training is becoming as important as financial literacy, especially for people over age fifty.