Sydney  - The new working class heroes in Australia are people like George Bilbie, a 100-year-old solicitor who works two days a week and has no plans for full retirement.

"I'm one of the luckiest people out there," Bilbie said. "When you are brought up poor, you appreciate everything you get."

Australians - one third of whom will be over 55 in 2050 - are being asked to give up the old paradigm of retiring at 55.

The government is helping change attitudes by revamping pension rules to encourage those over 65 to keep on working. Now, workers over 55 can earn a wage but still access some of their pension.

Like Bilbie, more and more older Australians will be semi-retired or still in the workforce.

According to researcher David Bogan, whose book is tellingly titled Avoid Retirement and Stay Alive, shifting permanently to the beach house is most often a big mistake.

"For people who retire to the beach or the country, the biggest problem in their lives becomes the crack in the footpath outside their house," he said. "They less they have to do, the sicker they get. People just give up."

His thesis - and one easily proven by the number of elderly Australian business tycoons - is that those who can afford to retire tend not to. Those who can't afford to retire are the ones who knock off work as soon as they possibly can.

Peter Martin, a broadcaster and former Treasury economist, reckons that the economy has shifted to accommodate those happy to inhabit the demi-monde of semi-retirement.

Part-time positions are growing faster than full-time positions and casual employment has lost the stigma it once had. "Uncertainty has become the new permanence," Martin says.

Labour shortages mean employers don't routinely overlook the grey haired. Joblessness is currently at a 33-year low.

Insurance company AXA Australia commissioned a survey that found almost two-thirds of respondents intended to get some form of paid employment after they retired. It was proof that dreams of idleness at the beach or in the country had faded and the Bilbies were on the march. (dpa)