Tasmanians intend to retire earlier than other Australians

An analysis of the ABS Survey of Retirement and Retirement Intentions, 2022-23

Despite increasing demand for workers and the persistent skill and labour shortages in Tasmania, Tasmanians are intending to retire from the workforce at a younger age than any other jurisdiction in Australia, apart from the ACT.

Given that around 42% of employed Tasmanians are aged 45 or over and that for these workers’ their average intended retirement age is 64.7 years, around 120,000 Tasmanian workers will likely exit the workforce over the next 20 years. Not only will their exit from the workforce create further skill and labour shortages due to the demand for replacement labour, but it will add to the challenges to fill new job creation opportunities as well.

Better understanding the motivations and/or causes for retirement will enable informed policy development for the potential retention of workers. Better understanding the circumstances of those older non-working Tasmanians who wish to re-enter the workforce, around 10,200 Tasmanians aged 45 or over, will better inform recruitment attraction approaches.

Importantly, however, to meet current and future workforce needs a much broader understanding of the motivations for working, not just retirement intentions, will be critical to maintaining both their participation and productivity in the labour force, and potentially prolonging their exit.

This InSummary provides a more detailed analysis of the retirement intentions of Tasmanians aged 45 or older by a range of variables including occupation, industry, skill level and status of health, relationship and employment from data released by the ABS in the Retirement and Retirement Intentions publication for 2022-23. Some pretty stark conclusions are made.