Wells Fargo, MetLife, AARP Studies on Retirement Workforce

Wells Fargo and MetLife studies show retirees plan to work in retirement. AARP calculates a fast-growing workforce among seniors.

Retirement: A New Phase of Working

According to a study by MetLife, workers age 55 to 70 expect to work until age 70. Those over 66 plan to work until age 76.

More than one in two surveyed (54%) said they had formulated ideas about how much to work in retirement, according to the MetLife study.

For middle-class Americans, retirement simply means a new phase of their working years, according to results from the sixth annual Retirement Fitness Survey from Wells Fargo & Company. The survey found that 3/4 of middle-class Americans between the ages of 25 and 69 expect to work through their retirement years.

Half of Baby Boomers expect to work into their 70s, according to a survey of by First Command Financial Services. The chief reason they give is a desire to stay busy and intellectually engaged. But money also appears to be a driving force.

Senior Labor Participation

The 20th century decline in the percentage of older Americans in the work force began to reverse itself in the 1980s. Since 1988, the labor participation rate of U.S. civilians between 55 and 64 has increased from 54.6 percent to 64.5 percent and is projected to reach 68.1 percent by 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of Americans 65 to 74 years old, 25.1 percent are now in the labor force compared with 16.1 percent 20 years ago. That percentage is expected to rise to 30.5 percent by 2018.

Doing more meaningful or satisfying work is very important to 43 percent of the already retired “empowered reinventors” identified by Ameriprise Financial. Merrill Lynch has found that “people want to stay active in retirement, which for most means continuing to work, but with a different work/leisure balance.”

Growth in the 75+ Workforce

According to number-crunchers at AARP, in the past 20 years the 75-plus work force, has increased enormously.

The number of workers ages 75 and older, either employed or seeking employment, had grown to 1.3 million in 2009, from just under half a million in 1989. Now, 7.3% of that population is in the workforce, versus 4.3% in 1989. Of workers ages 75 to 84, more than 42 percent hold full-time jobs.

Topic: Working in Retirement Subtopics: The Fourth Era of Retirement • How Many Retirees Work? • Why Work in Retirement? • Job Skills • The Job Hunt