Retirement was going well for Henry Gasior.
After a long career in the aviation industry, the pensioner was enjoying volunteering and helping out at his local food bank in Bacchus Marsh, about 40 kilometres out of Melbourne.
Then, a year and a half ago, the 76-year-old did something he never saw coming: he went back to work.
"I had to supplement my pension," he said.
"The bills kept on coming in, [and not] just gas bills or electricity bills. I had to dip into my superannuation: large amounts on about three different occasions."
Mr Gasior now works as a personal care worker, providing assistance for older Australians living at home.
He works about 12 to 15 hours a week, earning anywhere from $670 to $840 a fortnight. That's well over what he's allowed to earn before his pension payments are reduced.
Currently, those on the Age Pension are allowed to earn a "Work Bonus" of $300 a fortnight for a single person, or $320 a fortnight for a couple. For every dollar earned above that amount, pension payments are reduced by 50 cents on every dollar.
It means the more hours Mr Gasior works, the more his pension shrinks. And because he's married, his wife's pension is also reduced.
"It would be a big, big help if they increased the threshold," he said.
In this year's federal budget, the government announced plans to do just that.
The Work Bonus will be increased from December 1, taking it from $7,800 a year to $11,800 for this financial year. But the measure will expire on July 1.
Advocates and industry groups say the move is a step in the right direction — but likely not enough to entice more pensioners into the workforce.
The latest statistics show a huge demand for more workers, particularly in the field of health care and social assistance. The sector has an older workforce and had 74,000 job vacancies nationwide in August.
Despite the moves in the budget, National Seniors chief advocate Ian Henschke said the government had not addressed one of the key barriers when it came to pensioners working: the prospect of interacting with Centrelink.
He said the government needed to make the system "simpler, more understandable and fairer" — and to make the move permanent.
"We've got fewer than 80,000 pensioners [working] in Australia when we've got a pensioner population of 2.25 million," he said.
"When you've only got less than 3 per cent of your pensioners doing work, it's not because they don't want to work. We believe [Centrelink] is the big barrier."
Tapping the 'grey economy'
Aged care is one sector of the economy that could benefit from pensioners re-entering the workforce, according to the experts.
The latest workforce census revealed 45 per cent of personal care workers were over the age of 50.
For in-home care providers, there is a huge demand for older workers, with advocates saying clients feel more comfortable with care workers closer to their own age.
"This 'grey economy', what [we] need to do is [tap into] that market," said Georgia Downes, the chief operating officer of aged care provider Home Instead.
"At the moment, we are in dire need of more caregivers. [In our business] we would love to take on up to 1,000 to 1,200 more."
She believed the system was too complicated and the amounts pensioners were allowed to earn too low -- even with the one-time boost provided in the budget.
"We've got caregivers that are currently turning down shifts, although they need the money, and they'd like the work," she said.
"They're turning down shifts because they're scared of affecting their pension."
In a statement, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the boost to the Work Bonus in December would have a positive impact.
"This measure not only incentivises pensioners to work and boosts the supply of labour to meet workplace shortages, but it also gives pensioners the opportunity to work flexibly," Ms Rishworth said.
"All aged pensioners [will] receive the up-front $4,000 income credit and will be able to work and earn more before their aged pension is reduced. It's a simple measure that provides certainty — pensioners know exactly what they are getting up-front and how much they can earn."
New Zealand's larger grey economy
But Mr Henschke was sceptical about the impact of the changes. He believed a possible solution to increasing the number of pensioners in the workforce could be found across the ditch.
He cites the New Zealand model, which has no restrictions on how much pensioners can earn. Wages are simply included with the pension in total income, which is then taxed.
According to the OECD, in New Zealand, 25 per cent of over-65s engage in the workforce, compared to just 15 per cent of Australians. If Australia had a similar rate, more than 200,000 more pensioners would be doing some sort of work.
But Mr Henschke doubted Australia would see anything like that under the current system, as it was still too complicated to entice pensioners back into the workforce.
He said because the changes were set to expire in July next year, they would also be too short-term to make a difference.
Back in Bacchus Marsh, Henry Gasior is happy he can work longer hours without being penalised.
But those changes will not relieve him of the worst part of his job — having to report his hours to Centrelink.
“[My employer] has to go back and add it all up and give it to me: then I report that. And every fortnight I've got to go online to myGov and put the figures in.
“You know, it's a bit of a pain in the butt.
"Instead of having that [work bonus] given to me temporarily, give it to me permanently."
