Are you one of the WOBBLES?
17 October 2023
5
min read
More Australians working until later in life are changing what retirement looks like.
Retirement in the 2020s looks very different to merely a decade ago. And change is likely to escalate in the future, a study by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) into the effects of COVID-19 on retirement planning in the 2020s1 shows.
One major trend is having a significant impact in reshaping retirement in Australia. It is the rise of the Work-on Baby Boomer Looking for Extra Savings, otherwise known as the WOBBLES.
The number of Australians aged 65 or over in the workforce in August 2020, when the global COVID-19 pandemic was accelerating changes in the workplace and at home, was 616,000 or 4.8 per cent of the entire workforce.2 This number included 369,000 men and 247,000 women.
Latest figures show the number of workers aged 65 or over leapt to 690,000 by August 2023.
How WOBBLES are reshaping the workforce
Source: ABS Labour Force status by age, social marital status and sex, February 1978-August 2023
The ASFA report suggests that the rising contribution to the workforce by people who are eligible to retire, includes both men and women. It says older women seem to find work in clerical and caring roles, whereas older men find work in farming, construction and management.
The report says there are two factors driving the WOBBLES:
- Rising numbers of tertiary-educated Baby Boomers pushing into retirement are keen to boost super balances by working on
- The pandemic restricting the inflow of skilled workers, including foreign students, from 2020 onwards has created more demand for older knowledge workers to work on.
All up, the report suggests, the 2020s could well be the decade of the WOBBLES.
1. ASFA, February 2021, Rethinking retirement: The impact of demographic change and the pandemic on retirement planning in the 2020s, at superannuation.asn.au
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force status by age, social marital status and sex, Table 01, February 1978-August 2023, at abs.gov.au