Thank you.
I will make my introductory remarks in English, but my colleague, Diane Galarneau, who will do most of the presentation, will present in French. As usual, I will be happy to answer questions in the language of your choice.
I would like to thank the committee for inviting us to present some background information for your work on engaging experience: opportunities for older persons in the workforce.
I will give you a few caveats. Statistics Canada does not collect information on a regular basis that would look at employment opportunities or barriers for older workers.
Every month we conduct our Canadian labour force survey, which measures labour market participation and employment for the population 15 years of age and over. We do have participation rates and labour market information for older workers. However, information on barriers or intentions for retirement, for example, are collected on an irregular basis. The last time we collected some information was through our general social survey that was done in 2007, so the information is a bit dated. We also had a survey that was done in 2008 on a cost-recovery basis that focused on older workers.
We'll present a bit of information on labour market participation and some trends we've seen over the last 25 to 50 years. Then we'll present a bit of information on what we have in terms of intentions to retire, some of the reasons why people choose to retire and some factors that could affect their intention to retire.
On this note, Diane, please take over.