{"id":9959,"date":"2023-12-25T08:46:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T12:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=9959"},"modified":"2023-12-26T07:52:46","modified_gmt":"2023-12-26T11:52:46","slug":"more-workers-are-working-at-65-and-beyond-and-loving-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=9959","title":{"rendered":"More workers are working at 65 and beyond and loving it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0The number of older workers on the job is creeping higher.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Roughly 1 in 5 Americans ages 65 and older (19%) were employed in 2023, four times the number in the mid-1980s. That tallies up to around 11 million workers and is on par with the number of those in that age cohort who were clocking in during the early 1960s.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the scuttlebutt from a\u00a0new report\u00a0<\/a>from the Pew Research Center. \u201cOlder adults have not been left behind in the US job market,\u201d\u00a0Richard Fry<\/a>, a senior researcher at Pew and co-author of the report, told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n

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That lines up with my own family\u2019s experience. My husband, 69, is employed full-time; my brother, 67, is going full steam at a company where he has worked for more than three decades; and my brother-in-law, 65, juggles a patchwork quilt of paid positions from teaching at a university to consulting to work as a corporate board member \u2014 intermixed with plenty of leisure time for biking, hiking, boating, travel, and time with family.<\/p>\n

The survey also found that workers over 65 work longer hours than their predecessors and have higher levels of education. Over the course of a year, the average older worker works 1,573 hours, up from 1,213 hours in 1987. And more than 4 in 10 have a bachelor\u2019s degree or more education, compared with 18% in 1987. That puts them about on par with workers ages 25 to 64, according to the survey.<\/p>\n

Read on Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, they’re raking in heftier pay per hour than older workers before them.<\/p>\n

The inflation-adjusted earnings of the typical worker aged 65 or older rose from $13 an hour in 1987 to $22 an hour in 2022. And today, more than 6 in 10 are working full-time, compared with 47% in 1987.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0<\/em>How to find out your 2024 Social Security COLA increase<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also seeing that older workers are less likely to say they find their job stressful, reporting\u00a0higher levels of job satisfaction\u00a0<\/a>overall compared to younger workers,\u201d Fry added.<\/p>\n

Two-thirds (67%) of workers ages 65 and older say they\u2019re extremely or very satisfied with their job overall, compared with 55% of those 50 to 64, 51% of those 30 to 49, and 44% of those 18 to 29, according to another recent Pew survey conducted in February.<\/p>\n

Why are they still working? For many older workers, my family included, it\u2019s because they love what they do and want to stay engaged mentally and with a community. Not to be dismissed, the paycheck makes them feel valued and is a financial safety net, even if they have saved adequately for retirement.<\/p>\n

Policy shifts have also encouraged people to stay on the job longer, according to the Pew research. Changes to the Social Security system, for example, raised the age which workers receive their full retirement benefits from 65 to 67.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0<\/em>What is the retirement age for Social Security, 401(k), and IRA withdrawals?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The \u2018older worker\u2019 effect on the economy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cOlder workers have accounted for much of the recent growth in the labor force,\u201d Richard Johnson,\u00a0director of the Program on Retirement Policy<\/a>\u00a0at the Urban Institute, told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n

Workers ages 65 and older represent about a quarter of the increase in the labor force over the past 25 years, and workers ages 55 and older represent more than three-quarters of the increase, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the added contributions of older workers, the labor force would have stagnated, reducing productivity gains and lowering economic growth,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n

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And the tide is not turning.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Adults ages 65 and older are projected to be 8.6% of the labor force (those working and looking for work) in 2032, up from 6.6% in 2022, according to the\u00a0Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>. And older adults are projected to account for 57% of labor force growth over this period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a pretty astonishing number,\u201d Bradley Schurman, a\u00a0demographic strategist<\/a>\u00a0and the author of \u201cThe Super Age,\u201d told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can cry and moan about the fact that, \u2018isn’t it so awful that over 65s have to be in the workforce?,\u2019\u201d Schurman said. \u201cNo, it’s not. It’s good for you. I\u2019m not saying that people should be chained to a job that they can barely do because they’re physically infirmed or mentally incompetent. But for those that have the physical and mental wherewithal, this is a good thing because you stay healthier physically and financially, and have more money in your pocket. When you have people earning for longer, they stay active consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n