Why Shouldn’t Age 45+ Participate in the gig economy too?
In February, 1975 Margaret Thatcher, as the new UK Conservative opposition leader, addressing a National Chamber of Trade convention angry about high interest rates and taxes, famously said:
“We used to be famous for two things—as a nation of shopkeepers and as the workshop of the world. One is trade, the other is industry. We must get back our reputation.”
As the daughter of shopkeepers, she was speaking about the need for entrepreneurship and self-reliance.
If you remember those times, this note’s for you.
In 1975, the Canadian minimum wage was about $2.40. It was the year of “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glenn Campbell, and the music charts were dominated by Barry Manilow, Neil Sedaka, The Bee Gees, Captain and Tennille, The Carpenters, LaBelle, and John Denver. Ok maybe it wasn’t the most critically acclaimed year in music? The Canadian dollar was at parity with the US dollar during much of 1975. A 1975 dollar is worth about $5.30 now.
But I digress. My point is that the challenging context we now all find ourselves faced with, much more complex than 1975 with our added concerns over pandemics, climate change, housing costs, and healthcare, means we need to tap into our Boomer self-reliance and self-responsibility, to proactively address the risks of outliving our money. We need to become freelancers, selling our expertise. Young adults are earning money from “gigs” as freelancers – why shouldn’t older Canadians too? We’ve spent our lives becoming proficient in our profession, regardless what it is. That expertise doesn’t stop having value just because we step back or retire from the full time workforce.
Older Canadians’ Longer Labour Force Participation is Actually the Norm
Older Canadian labour force participation rates have already been increasing. But male age 55-64 rates are still below what they were in 1975, when Gordon Lightfoot was singing “Rainy Day People” and Chicago released “Old Days” (female rates are higher)0. And the Canadian workforce participation rate of about 68% of those age 55-64 is low compared to many other OECD countries, such as Sweden, New Zealand, and Japan all around 80%. So what’s happening is a return to the norm of staying in the workforce longer. For a generation “Freedom 55” was a realistic goal. But that was an anomaly, enabled by defined benefit pensions and lower cost of living. That window for most of us is now closed. Rest in piece Freedom 55.
Barriers to Afe 45+ Labour Force Participation
The Fraser Institute April 2022 report on the barriers to labour force participation of older workers in Canada, listed a number of barriers, including age discrimination, inadequate government and company pensions, and income tax related issues. None of the barriers have to do with out-of-date skills.
To help overcome these and other barriers, there are some government strategies and programs promoting labour force participation of seniors, and national seniors strategies by the National Institute on Aging’s National Seniors Strategy that contain key elements about financial independence. @Gordon Pape has some sage advice to overcome barriers too.
These are great initiatives. But rather than rely on those potentially benefiting some of us sometime, I’d suggest we each take matters into our own hands. That seems to me a pragmatic direct solution many of us can take.
Becoming a Generation of Freelancers: Life Beyond the T4
So if we have the desire, or the need to keep working longer, what does that look like. Whether we will continue to work as we age, cutting down a bit as a phase toward retirement, or keep working in retirement, we might as well make it work for us, on our terms. For a lot of us, I see a tremendous opportunity in freelancing– selling our expertise, working when, where, and how we want to. Forget about taking menial jobs like retail and security guards, or trying to upskill to shift careers, fitting into someone else’s requirements reactively, when we have our skills to define proactively what we offer.
Of course, many of us haven’t started our own small businesses before. Some of us will need a mindset change to reimagine life not getting a T4 each year but earning income and paying our own taxes as self-employed freelancers. There are lots of great resources to help with this shift many will need, including the US non-profit BoomerWorks, which aims to inspire self-employment among seniors. I have started four businesses, including two freelance. So understanding what some common needs and steps are, our website Elderberry.work has a list of helpful references and links too, including how to register your freelance business and get started.
The Benefits: Individual, Social, and Economic
Of course, there are many other motivations beyond financial for older Canadians to participate in the labour market, including being active, engaging with others to avoid isolation, giving back to society, and knowledge transfer to younger generations.
From a more macro level, our Canadian skills shortage due to an aging population with fewer younger adults to replace us, is well known. So the economy needs us.
Governments will love older Canadians remaining stronger financially and healthwise longer too, as that will reduce reliance on healthcare, with its critical shortages and mounting costs, as well as reduced social spending to support seniors in other ways.