Canadians retiring 2 years later than they used to

Canadians are putting off their retirement plans and working at least two years later across all education levels, Statistics Canada says.

Rick Rayman is part of a growing group of workers who has put off his retirement from the workforce. When he gave up his private dental practice, he took on a teaching job at the University of Toronto's school of dentistry. He's in his 60s and has no plans to retire.

"I want to keep on doing it until I don't have that desire that drive that fire," he says. "I hopethat never happens."

Rayman isn't alone. Statistics Canada released dataTuesday revealing that Canadians are increasingly likely to put off their retirement plans and are now working at least two years longer than workers did just a decade ago.

According toan analysis theagency published, Canadian workers are retiring later today than they did in the 1990s. And the trend holds true across all education levels.

Among those with less than a high school diploma, a 50-year-old worker in 2009 could expect to work another 14.3 years before retiring, Statistics Canada said.That's twoyears longer than thesame worker could have expected to work in 1998.

The gap widens for those with more education. A 50-year-old worker with a post-secondary degree couldexpect to work another14.6 years in 2009, up from just 12 years in 1998.

So workers are staying on at least two more years, on average, than they used to before retiring.

Life expectancies differ

The analysis also found that less-educated workers aged 50 have a life expectancy after retirement of 18 years, comparedwith 21 years amongworkers with a post-secondary education.

Those calculations includepeople wholeave the workforceagainst their will, for reasons such asbeing laid off, illness or having to care for a family member. Such "involuntary retirements" make up about one-quarter of all retirees, Statistics Canada says.

Add it all up, and the agency says the average 50-year-old worker across all demographic groups could expect to work longer thana counterpart in 1998.