Canadians “retiring in droves,” with nurses and truckers leading the way

For decades, economists and pundits have predicted that a “grey tsunami” of boomer retirements would cause all kinds of collateral damage, such as increased healthcare costs and hikes in government spending on things like Old Age Security.

Well, according to Reuters, we may be about to find out if those decades-old predictions might come true.

The Reuters article calls it The Great Retirement.

“Canada’s labour force grew in August, but it fell the previous two months and remains smaller than before the summer as tens of thousands of people simply stopped working. Much of this can be chalked up to more Canadians than ever retiring,” the Reuters article reports, citing data from Statistics Canada.

And, the article continues, it’s not so much older Boomers who are hitting the silk on work, but “a record number of Canadians aged 55 to 64” who have retired in the last year.

“That is hastening a mass exodus of Canada’s most highly skilled workers, leaving businesses scrambling, helping push wages sharply higher and threatening to further drag down the country’s sagging productivity,” Reuters adds, citing the views of economists.

“We knew from a long time ago that this wave was coming, that we would get into this moment,” states Jimmy Jean, chief economist at Desjardins Group, in the Reuters article. “And it’s only going to intensify in the coming years.”

“The risk you have, and in some sectors you’re already seeing it, is that people are leaving without there being enough younger workers to take over. So there’s a loss of human capital and knowledge,” Jean tells Reuters.

Another slightly alarming stat revealed in the Reuters piece is that those of us who are still working are older, with one in five Canadian workers being age 55 or older. So there are many, many more workers who are entering the retirement zone.

So who specifically is retiring? Reuters says nurses and truckers are leading the way to the exits. An eye-popping 34,400 folks have retired from healthcare jobs since May, the article reports, and the Ontario Nurses’ Association’s Catherine Hoy says many of these retirements were unexpected.

The pressure on healthcare workers, particularly nurses, was intense during the pandemic – and the same is true for truckers, the article notes.

Older truckers – who, like nurses, were crucial workers during the early pandemic years – are leaving the profession, creating vacancies and a huge demand for new blood in the field. Many truckers are hired right after completing their training, the article notes.

“Without trucks and people to drive trucks … goods will sit at ports and in warehouses as opposed to getting to the destination where they can be consumed,” warns Tony Reeder of Trans-Canada College in the Reuters article.

This is a very revealing article. We have noticed that almost everywhere we go, help wanted signs are out. As well, you see certain places – local restaurants are an example – that have cut back their hours due to a lack of staff. It will be very interesting to see how this wave of Boomer retirements plays out – hopefully it will create the chance for better jobs for younger people.

You can’t, of course, contemplate retirement without having some sort of plan to finance your golden years. There are many ways to save, including workplace pension programs, but not every Canadian has access to a pension. If you are looking for a way to save on your own for your work-free future, take a look at the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. It’s available to any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room.

With SPP, you can contribute any amount you want (up to $7,000 per year), and you can transfer up to $10,000 from other RRSPs into SPP. SPP’s role will be to grow your savings for you via low-cost, pooled investing. And once you’re ready to escape the work world, SPP has several options for your retirement income needs, including the chance of getting a lifetime monthly annuity payment. Check them out today!

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It’s clear that the pandemic – which we all hope is entering its final phase – has made many Canadians rethink the idea of living in a big, crowded, city.

But, as people sell their condos and townhouses and move to larger living spaces in the nation’s smaller towns, cities, and rural areas, experts are predicting this mass migration may cause problems in the labour market.

According to a report by Julie Gordon of Reuters, published via Yahoo! News, “the pandemic-driven exodus… has depleted a core age group of workers from the already tight labour market.” This, her story explains, may drive up wages as companies struggle to replace these “missing” job seekers.

The folks leaving the cities are typically younger people with young children, the report notes. The exodus, she explains “has shifted mid-career workers – a key segment of the labour force – out of big cities, making it difficult to find established talent in sectors where in-person work is essential or preferred.”

The article notes that most people leaving are in their 30s and 40s – Vancouver saw 12,000 people leave the city in 2021, Montreal lost 40,000, and Toronto witnessed an eye-popping 64,000 people moving away.

It’s not just the pandemic that’s prompting people to pack up. The cost of housing is another huge factor. The average Toronto condo costs $1.2 million, while the average price for a detached house in the Ontario suburbs is “just” $800,000, the article notes.

A report in the Globe and Mail notes that nationwide, 3.8 million of us – or about one in 10 Canadians – are living in smaller urban centres.

Smaller centres are benefitting from the urban exodus, the article reports. Over in B.C., the city of Squamish has grown by an amazing 21.8 per cent in one year, and now has more than 24,000 new citizens. Other small centres experiencing big growth are the Ontario towns of Wasaga Beach, Tillsonburg, Collingwood and Woodstock.

“With the pandemic, the capacity of Canadians to do more (remote) work has certainly encouraged some Canadians to really move to these smaller urban centres and leave maybe larger urban centres,” states Laurent Martel of Statistics Canada in the Globe article.

A CTV News report says it’s not just affordability and a healthier, more open space that is attracting Canadians to rural areas.

“We’re seeing small cities, including small cities outside the orbit of large metropolitan areas showing some robust growth,” Tom Urbaniak, political science professor at Cape Breton University, states in the CTV report.

“This signals to me that Canadians are looking for some flexibility, places reputed for their quality of life and are finding it easier to work from different places.” In fact, the article adds, for the first time in more than 40 years, the Maritimes’ population grew at a faster clip than the Canadian Prairie Provinces.

Getting back to the land can breathe new life into smaller communities. Consider the wonderful efforts of Brad and Kendal Parker in restoring a 107-year-old farmhouse in rural Harris, Sask.

The CBC reports the Parkers left Saskatoon and took on the renovation of an old farmhouse that had been boarded up for 70 years.  Descendants of the folks that originally built the house in 1915, the Parkers say, are thrilled the old place is getting a new lease on life.

“It’s really something. One of the grandchildren shared a painting with me of the original homestead,” Kendal Parker tells the CBC. “They tell me it’s so wonderful this house is coming back to life and to have children running around.”

Building a new home is great, and so is building a retirement future. The Saskatchewan Pension Plan can help with the latter goal. It’s a great resource for anyone who doesn’t have a retirement program at work – or does, but wants to augment it. You can contribute up to $7,000 a year towards your retirement future through SPP! Check them out today!

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