The expected retirement age in Sydney has climbed steadily over the past 20 years but is still up to eight years younger than workers in some of Australia’s biggest trading partners.
Men in Sydney now aged 45 years are expected to retire at 65.3 years, while women are expected to retire around a year earlier at 64 years, a report by consultancy firm KPMG predicts. Since 2000 the city’s expected retirement age for women has risen by 2.6 years, while the increase for men has been 1.4 years.
But men and women in Australia leave the workforce much earlier than in Japan and South Korea, Australia’s second- and third-biggest export markets respectively. Women in South Korea were expected to work until 72.3 years in 2018, or 8.1 years older than Australian women (South Korean men were expected to retire 7.3 years older than Australian men). Japanese men were expected to work until 71 years, nearly six years older than Australian men (there was a five-year gap for women).