Older individuals’ labour force participation during COVID-19

Jing Cui

The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2025, vol. 30, issue C

Abstract: COVID-19 significantly changed the labour participation rates of older Canadians, leading to substantial flows among employment, unemployment, marginal attachment, and non-attachment. Using the Canadian Labour Force Survey, this paper examines the impact of these flows on the participation rates of older individuals and explores whether COVID-19 prompted early retirements. Unlike the Great Recession, the pandemic caused significant direct separations from employment to non-participation. Additionally, older women experienced slower participation rate recovery than men due to higher outflows and lower inflows. Notably, many individuals who initially became non-attached to the labour force in early 2020 transitioned back to employment in the following months of the same year. Generally, the pandemic did not increase older individuals’ self-reported retirement transitions and reduced their probability of staying non-attached to the labour market.

Keywords: COVID-19; Labour force participation; Older worker flows; Retirement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 J26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joecag:v:30:y:2025:i:c:s2212828x24000458

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2024.100545

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