Retirements have been increasing rapidly in the federal public service since the start of the millennium as the leading edge of the baby boom generation calls it quits, according to a new study.
The Statistics Canada study, Federal public service retirements: Trends in the new millennium, finds that in the fiscal year ending March 2007, the number of permanent public servants covered by the Public Service Employment Act (PSEA) who were taking their retirement amounted to almost three times the number at the start of the millennium.
“Retirements have increased more quickly in the public service than in the labour force as a whole,” says the study. “One of the reasons is because permanent federal public servants covered by the PSEA are 5.3 years older on average than workers in the general labour force, and they also tend to retire 3.2 years earlier.”
As of early 2007, about 8% of the federal public service workforce could retire immediately without penalty, double the 4% only six years earlier. One quarter of the existing public service workforce studied was eligible to retire within the next five years.
However, not all public servants retire immediately once eligible, says the study. In the fiscal year ending March 2007, about one-third retired in the year they became eligible. Forty-four percent put off retirement by about four years on average.
Still, the baby boomers are the driving force behind the current retirements. In fiscal year 2006/2007, they made up two-thirds of the workforce and two-thirds of retirements. Boomers in the public service also tended to retire younger (in their late 50s) after having banked more years of pensionable service than the pre-boomers retiring in 2006/2007.
To read the study on Statistics Canada’s website, click here.
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