{"id":723,"date":"2012-04-20T17:17:59","date_gmt":"2012-04-20T17:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=723"},"modified":"2012-05-02T14:19:26","modified_gmt":"2012-05-02T14:19:26","slug":"older-workers-staying-on-the-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=723","title":{"rendered":"OLDER WORKERS STAYING ON THE JOB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/2012\/02\/16\/older-workers-staying-on-the-job\/\"><br \/>\n<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1087\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?attachment_id=1087\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"300,300\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"forbes\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?fit=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1087\" title=\"forbes\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?resize=150%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?w=300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/2012\/02\/16\/older-workers-staying-on-the-job\/\">Read Published Article<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s off to work we go.<\/p>\n<p>The American workforce just keeps aging. Here\u2019s one more signal that our working years are expanding before our very eyes.<\/p>\n<p>The labor-force participation rate for those age 55 and older remained at its recent highs in 2011, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).\u00a0\u201cThis upward trend is not surprising and is likely to continue,\u201d EBRI\u2019s Craig Copeland, author of the report, says.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<aside data-position=\"4\">\n<div>This is almost exclusively due to the increase of women in the work force, the report explains. Interestingly, the male participation rate is flat to declining. (For more on working women and retirement, read my column:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/kerryhannon\/2012\/02\/08\/can-boomer-women-afford-to-retire\/\">Can Boomer Women Afford To Retire?<\/a>)<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are the report\u2019s findings:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Specifically, the percentage of Americans near or at retirement age (age 55 or older) has been rising steadily since 1993, when it stood at 29.4 percent, reaching 40.2 percent in 2010 (it remained at that level in 2011).<\/li>\n<li>For men age 55 and older, the labor force participation rate grew from 1975 to 2010, before flattening out or slightly decreasing to 46.3 percent in 2011.<\/li>\n<li>Among women age 55 and older, the labor force participation rate grew from 22.8 percent in 1993 to 35.1 percent in 2010, its highest level, where it remained in 2011.<\/li>\n<li>The 1975 rate for females ages 55\u201359 was 47.9 percent, compared with\u00a067.7 percent in 2011.<\/li>\n<li>But among those age 65 and older, labor-force participation increased for both males and females.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And it\u2019s not because of the recent economic blues we\u2019ve been battling. The EBRI researchers emphasize that this remains the trend because there are more opportunities for older workers out there (although they don\u2019t say where), and there\u2019s a greater need for them to keep plugging away to bank sufficient or adequate resources for retirement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Let me remind you of the three blessings of working longer:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1. The more earning years you can build savings in a defined contribution plan like a 401 (k), the better off you\u2019ll be down the road when you\u2019re really too frail to work.<\/p>\n<p>2. It allows you to delay tapping retirement funds longer, while they hopefully continue to build-up.<\/p>\n<p>3. And, of course, the elephant in the room\u2013 workers\u2019 have a very real need for continued access to employment-based health insurance. Employment-based retiree health insurance is increasingly scarce, and those who do have it are likely finding that their contribution to that cost is ramping up.<\/p>\n<p>Among large firms (200 or more workers) about one in four offered retiree health benefits in 2011, down significantly from 32% in 2007, and a far cry from the whopping 66% who offered retirees health bennies in 1988, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation\/<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/health\/\">Health<\/a>\u00a0Research &amp; Educational Trust survey. And only 6 percent of small firms offered retiree health benefits last year.<\/p>\n<p>Other nuances from the report:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/education\/\">Education<\/a>\u00a0is a strong factor in an individual\u2019s participation in the labor force at older ages, as individuals with higher levels of education are significantly more likely to be in the labor force than those with lower levels of education.<\/li>\n<li>The 2011\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/retirement\/\">Retirement<\/a>\u00a0Confidence Survey (RCS) found that a growing percentage of workers expect to retire at later ages \u201cboth for the reasons described above and\/or because of an increased desire to continue to work.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yep, mental engagement and doing work that matters later in life is something that makes it, well, not seem like work at all.<\/p>\n<p>The report is based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau data and is published in the February 2012 EBRI Notes, \u201cLabor-force Participation Rates of the Population Age 55 and Older, 2011: After the Economic Downturn,\u201d available online at<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ebri.org\/\">\u00a0www.ebri.org<\/a>. \u00a0For more on working in your \u201cretirement\u201d years, check out this video below with Kevin E. Cahill, a research economist with The Sloan Center on Aging &amp; Work at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/colleges\/boston-college\/\">Boston College<\/a>. \u00a0<object width=\"620\" height=\"466\" classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6, 0, 40, 0\"><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/6sXHwu_05CQ&amp;rel=0\" \/><\/object><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\" OLDER WORKERS STAYING ON THE JOB\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Read Published Article And it\u2019s off to work we go. The American workforce just keeps aging. Here\u2019s one more signal that our working years are expanding before our very eyes. The labor-force participation rate for those age 55 and older remained at its recent highs in 2011, according to a new report by the nonpartisan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\" OLDER WORKERS STAYING ON THE JOB\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,14,6,16],"tags":[332,333,335,10,331],"class_list":["post-723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boomers","category-second-acts","category-second-verse-blog-on-forbes-com","category-working-after-retirement","tag-boomers","tag-retirement","tag-second-acts","tag-second-careers","tag-second-verse-blog-on-forbes-com"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/forbes1.gif?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YFQS-bF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=723"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/723\/revisions\/1121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}