Working longer: The new average retirement age for men and women as cost of living bites

"These are accountants, engineers, lawyers - more of these people are working for longer whereas, in the past, we had more blue-collar workers,"

"Working from home might keep it an attractive role for employees. I might want to work a couple of days a week and it's easy for me to work from home, it's easy to keep that flexibility. That flexibility appears to be a really important factor for the older demographic."

"People are paying taxes for longer, which helps the federal treasury. Research has shown the more you work, you also have good health outcomes as well which saves on health costs."

New data show Australian men now expected to work until age 67 on average and women until age 65. The retirement age has risen 2.2 years for men and 1.1 years for women since 2014–2015. Rising cost of living and a larger share of white-collar roles that are less physically demanding are extending workforce participation. Post‑COVID remote and hybrid arrangements increase flexibility, enabling many older workers to stay employed, sometimes into their late 70s or beyond. Longer working lives reduce reliance on the aged pension, increase tax receipts and are associated with better health outcomes that lower health costs.

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