KPMG found that Australian workers are now retiring at their oldest age since the 1970s, with the shift attributed to the changing work patterns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The adoption of working from home has made many older Australians in professional jobs realise that they could ‘semi-retire’ and continue to dabble in the workforce from home or even from a coastal location,” says KPMG Urban Economist, Terry Rawnsley. 

According to KPMG’s analysis of census data, women are now expected to retire at an average age of 64.8, an increase of 3.2 years over the past two decades.
Men are now expected to retire at 66.2, an increase of 2.9 years over the past two decades.

KPMG says women have been increasingly drawn into full-time employment since the pandemic, with the expected age of retirement from full-time work increasing by more than a year. Meanwhile, the increased expected retirement age for men during the same period was driven by increases in part-time employment. 

Where you live affects your retirement age

Among the major capital cities, Greater Perth has the highest expected retirement age for women and the second highest for men, inversely Greater Melbourne has the highest age for men and the second highest for women. The higher retirement ages reflect the tight labour markets in both those cities, says KPMG. Greater Sydney and Greater Brisbane have lower expected retirement ages, which may be linked to people shifting out of the city into nearby coastal areas (e.g. Central Coast, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast,) when they leave the labour force.  

However, KPMG thinks we may have hit peak retirement age.  

“Even in a tight labour market, we may have reached a plateau in the expected age of retirement, suggesting we cannot expect older workers to continue working longer. This is because we simply can't find enough older workers to sustain the growth that occurred during the COVID-19 era.” explains Mr Rawnsley.   

Working longer and need advice? We can help

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