Crespo, Stéphane <br/><br/>
The New Career Paths of Older Workers 

 -  2004.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 96 
<br/><br/> Since the mid 1990s, the employment rate of men aged between 55 and 64 has been rising in Quebec after several years of steady decline, as is the case in Canada and elsewhere. This increase has taken place against a backdrop of change in the career patterns of older workers, which emerged before the 1990s but has become more marked over the last decade. The “new career paths” differ from the “old” ones in that they involve a “post-career” return to employment, and an income that combines both salary and pension. This study seeks to determine the extent to which this recent increase in the employment rate is driven by retired workers trying out this “new career path”, given the contradiction between institutional mechanisms, which continue to encourage early retirement, and a level of demand that now encourages workers to remain in employment. This contradiction might explain why the increase in employment rate can be attributed to people who retired early with full pension rights and who are now choosing to return to the job market. Indeed, the increase mainly concerns workers in recent jobs, offering proof of the growth in “postcareer” employment. Moreover, it exclusively involves workers with a combined salary and pension income. In addition, practically all these workers are in full-time employment, a fact probably attributable to the economic upturn.