Delayed retirement is a good thing: seniors’ advocate

Bill VanGorder, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons’ Atlantic advocacy lead, is pictured on May 11, 2026. (CTV Atlantic / Vanessa Wright)

With more Canadians choosing to stay on the job past the age of 65, one advocate believes it’s a win-win situation for both seniors and businesses.

According to Statistics Canada, the labour force participation rate for Canadians aged 65 and older hit 15.2 per cent in 2025.

That’s nearly 1.2 million seniors in the labour force.

“It’s not a surprise at all. We’ve known that those numbers have been growing for years and even more so these days, 65 is just an imaginary number,” says Bill VanGorder, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons’ Atlantic advocacy lead.

“Working should be based on ability, not on some imaginary age.”

According to the data, higher living costs, longer life expectancies, and people who simply enjoy what they do are behind the trend.

“People who are getting older are living on fixed incomes. With the increased cost of living, they are finding that they can’t make ends meet. They need more money to meet the cost of living, and one way of doing it is (by) going back to work,” says VanGorder.

But that reality is something VanGorder says can benefit seniors looking for part-time employment and businesses eager to hire them.

“Seniors are happy to take jobs that are only a couple of days a week or a few hours a day, and they’re filling jobs that wouldn’t be filled otherwise,” he says. “Keeping an older worker around means you have somebody who’s experienced to the job. They don’t need a lot of supervision and they have a really good work ethic.”

And with tourism season approaching, he says more seniors will be taking up jobs in hospitality.

“More and more seniors are getting into that business because they can do it during the summer. It doesn’t have to be full time and there’s a real need in the Atlantic to have more people working in hospitality.”