Interprovincial Migration and Retirement Income Transfers among Canada's Older Population: 1996–2001

Given the propensity of Canadians to migrate, it is likely that migration has a large impact upon the distribution and redistribution of income across regions. Such impacts may be magnified within the older population, as their relocation involves the transfer of nonearned income such as pensions, retirement investments, or other income supplements from province to province and so return migration to a province of birth following retirement subsidizes local economies. By using methods proposed by Plane in 1999, income-based versions of demographic effectiveness are applied to evaluate the movement of nonearned income in the Canadian context among Canada's older population. The analysis uses data drawn from the 2001 Canadian Census, and focuses upon the older population (aged 60+ in 2001) who reported nonearned incomes in 2000. The paper distinguishes between four types of nonearned income, including (i) Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplements; (ii) Canada/Québec pension plan benefits; (iii) Retirement Investment income; and (iv) Investment Income. The objectives of the paper are twofold. First, it documents the movement of nonearned income between Canada's provinces, focusing upon the demographic effectiveness of the observed flows. Second, the paper explores the potential for primary, return, and onward migration to redistribute nonearnings income across Canada, and the significance of regional income redistributions by each type of migration. Results illustrate the importance of migration in transferring nonearned incomes over space, and the particular importance of return migration as a vehicle to redistribute nonearned income to economically depressed provinces.