The Early Retirees of Canadian Universities.

Because an option for early retirement in Canadian Universities has created a need to know more about the vacancies early retirement creates and the potential to fill these vacancies, a survey of 15 representative universities was conducted. The sample included institutions of faculty numbering less than 100 to institutions of faculty numbering more than 1,200. The data revealed that the early retirees are primarily males motivated to retire early for a variety of reasons: availability of plans, diminished job satisfaction, health, climatic condition of the city, burn-out, desire to move to a retirement home, incompatibility, family, advantages of the plan, personal and institution's dissatisfaction, financial considerations, personal reasons, uncomfortable work station, expectation of university regarding scholarly activities, pursuit of other interests while drawing a pension and other career opportunities. Their value to the university was dispersed throughout the faculty members' teaching research and service duties. Projected areas of critical shortage due to early retirement are accounting, economics, engineering, computer science, commerce, administration, and psychology. Institutions offered a variety of predictions as to their ability to fill vacancies that would be created from 1990 to 1995. (JB)