More than half (53 per cent) of Canadian retirees say they’re receiving, or will receive, less than $50,000 in annual retirement income from their employer-sponsored pension plan, according to a survey by the Ontario Securities Commission.

It found just 19 per cent of retirees with employer-sponsored pension plans said they expect to receive between $50,000 and $100,000 and even fewer (three per cent) expect more than $100,000. Notably, 14 per cent said they don’t know the total amount they’ll receive annually.

Read: 30% of Canadians relying on workplace pension as primary source of retirement income: survey

Among retirees who have retirement savings, just a quarter (24 per cent) said they haven’t withdrawn any money to this point, while a similar percentage said they typically withdraw what they need/want with no pre-set formula (23 per cent) or withdraw the minimum amount set by Canadian tax rules for registered retirement income fund withdrawals (22 per cent). Just three per cent said they’ve had to withdraw a percentage of their accounts each year and increase this percentage as they get older.

Fewer than a fifth (15 per cent) of retirees said their monthly expenses are typically covered by their own, or their spouse/common-law partner’s, workplace pension plan, so they only withdraw money as needed. Others noted they use monthly payments from an annuity to cover monthly expenses (three per cent) or from an annuity in addition to withdrawing money from their retirement savings as needed (three per cent).

Meanwhile, fewer than a third (30 per cent) of pre-retirees polled said they’re making contributions to a pension plan through their employer (30 per cent).

Read: 81% of U.S. employees concerned about retirement readiness amid inflation: survey

Among those who said they contribute to an employer-sponsored pension plan, roughly a third (32 per cent) said they typically save less than $5,000 per year, 20 per cent save between $5,000 and $10,000 and 12 per cent put aside more than $10,000. More than a third (36 per cent) said they aren’t aware of how much they contribute to their workplace pension plan in a typical year.

While more than half (59 per cent) of retirees said they have a formal plan for how they’ll earn monthly income to pay for their expenses, just 49 per cent of pre-retirees said the same. Indeed, 28 per cent said they don’t have a plan but want one and 16 per cent don’t think they need one.

Among pre-retirees who have a plan for their retirement, nearly two-thirds (61 per cent) said they’re on track saving for retirement, while more than a quarter (29 per cent) said they’re behind. Just five per cent said they were ahead of their plan. Another 26 per cent said they’ll need to earn more income than they currently have to pay for their expenses in retirement, while 30 per cent said they anticipate needing roughly the same amount of income.

Read: Survey finds 44% of Canadian pre-retirees have less than $5,000 in savings