Compared to the United States and the OECD average, how well does Canada do in terms of i) mitigating low old-age poverty; and ii) providing adequate retirement income replacement?

• Compared to the United States and the OECD average, how well does Canada do in terms of i) mitigating low old-age poverty; and ii) providing adequate retirement income replacement?
• From public pension benefits alone, in Canada what are the hypothetical gross replacement rates for someone with career average earnings equivalent to 25%, 100%, and 175% of the average industrial wage? Approximately at which level of average career earnings as a percentage of the average industrial wage do gross replacement rates fall below 60%?[1] What does this imply about the functioning of Canada’s public pension system, and which subset of Canadians need to be wary of this?

• How has Defined Benefit pension plan participation changed since the mid-1980’s, and are these changes different across sector of employment and by sex? What types of economic risks are associated with the changing of DB participation?

• What are the main drivers of pension reform in Canada? What has been Canada’s main form of reform? How has Canada’s average retirement age evolved over the past two decades? How has Canada’s average age of CPP take-up changed since 2000?

[1] For this question, set the CPP Years Maximum Pensionable Earnings level at $58,700, the maximum annual OAS benefit at $7,362.36, and the maximum annual GIS benefit at $10,996.56.