A growing number of workers—especially women—are choosing to collect benefits from the Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan, according to a Statistics Canada study.

However, an aging workforce means a larger proportion of older Canadians are continuing to work, some even after they begin to collect their CPP/QPP.

The study, Public pensions and work, found that 36.4% of Canadians chose to collect benefits at 60 in 2003, up from 32.5% in 1995.

Income from an existing employer-sponsored registered pension plan(RPP)tended to generate a pent-up demand for employees to take CPP/QPP early.

“Those who were working and not collecting RPP benefits were much less likely to commence their CPP/QPP benefits at age 60,” says the study.

The study also found that those who were already receiving RPP benefits were much less likely to be earning more than $20,000 in 2004(14.6%)than those who had been working in a job without RPP coverage(23.5%). Those who had worked at a job with RPP coverage were in the middle at 20.4%.

“Thus work intensity among CPP/QPP recipients seems to be related to financial circumstances,” the study says. “Those without the financial backing of an RPP or those with an RPP who could not afford to retire early tended to work more.”

To see the study on Statistics Canada’s website, click here.

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