Brisbane retirees are the youngest in the country

Brisbane workers are retiring younger than those anywhere else in the country, but the figures do not account for a large cohort of older professionals choosing to “semi-retire” on the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

Analysis compiled by KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley showed Brisbane retirees were, on average, the youngest in the country. Across all men in Brisbane, including part-time workers, the average retirement age was 66.2 years, while for all women it was 64.4.

But Rawnsley expected those ages to increase when older workers on the Gold and Sunshine coasts were factored in.

Rawnsley suspected people who chose to retire in Brisbane tended to be younger, but those who moved from Brisbane to the Gold Coast or the Sunshine Coast extended their working lives by working part-time while enjoying their sea change.

“They might commute to Brisbane a few days a week,” he said.

This reflected a national trend, he said, as older professionals opted for “semi-retirement”.

Rawnsley said the COVID pandemic, which resulted in many people working from home, had allowed older Australians to ease into their retirement while keeping a foot in the jobs market.

“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,” he said.

“What we’re seeing in those older age groups is much more of a gradual transition. You drop from five days a week to four days a week and then three, and people are moving to the coast to do part of that transition.”

Overall, Australians were putting in some of the longest hours in the world and expected to keep working until their oldest age since the early 1970s, Rawnsley’s analysis showed.

Terry Rawnsley, director of demographics and urban economics at accountants KPMG.

Nationally, men were not expecting to retire until 10 weeks beyond their 66th birthday, the highest retirement age since 1972. Women were not expecting to pull stumps on paid work until they reached 64.8 years, the highest since 1971.

Expected retirement ages in both Brisbane and Sydney were lower than in Melbourne and Perth, which Rawnsley said might be because of the proximity of both the NSW Central Coast and the Gold Coast.

“Perth doesn’t have a coastal hinterland to go to, and people tend to age in place in Melbourne,” he said.

Retiree Alan, who requested his surname not be published, stopped working at the age of 67 in 2019 after selling his finance business. He and his wife considered making a sea change but preferred to stay close to Brisbane’s major hospitals.

“The first thing you have to clear up is that there is no retirement age,” said Alan, who now helped other men adapt to retirement through the South Brisbane Men’s Shed.

“Retirement is a huge shock to the system. You’ve done a particular task for 20, 30, 40 … years and all of a sudden you’re not.”

Rawnsley’s analysis showed expected retirement ages had increased since 2003, in part due to changes in access to the age pension.

The age pension access age for women lifted from 60 to 65 between 1995 and 2004. The pension age was then lifted for both sexes from 65 to 67 between 2017 and mid-2023. A proposal from the Abbott government to gradually push the pension age to 70, which was set to start next year, was abandoned by Scott Morrison when he became prime minister.

The shift to part-time work by older Australians has not affected the total hours worked by Australians.

During the pandemic, average working hours across all countries dropped sharply as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

But hours worked have started to bounce back, with Australians putting in some of the longest hours in the developed world.

OECD data showed Australians, on average, worked 1707 hours a year or 35.5 hours a week (excluding four weeks of annual paid leave). Only Americans (1811 hours a year) and New Zealanders (1748 hours) worked longer than Australians.

By contrast, Britons worked on average 1532 hours a year, Germans worked 1341 hours while Canadians worked 1686 hours.

Talking points

Nationally, men are not expecting to retire until they reach 10 weeks beyond their 66th birthday, the highest retirement age since 1972.

Women are not expecting to stop work until they reach 64.8 years, the highest since 1971.

But men in Brisbane are retiring at 66.2 years old on average, while women are 64.4.

Australians putting in some of the longest hours in the developed world. On average, we work 35.5 hours a week.

Only Americans and New Zealanders work longer than Australians.