Soon after the economic collapse, seniors, who were on the verge of retiring and sitting on sandy beaches, had to return to the workforce. Their bank accounts were running on empty and their investments were hitting zero. This is a common complaint among millennials: seniors aren’t giving up jobs for the new generation.
But this may be a common trend in the coming years as life expectancy rates will only improve. Simply put: Americans may stay in the labor force a lot longer, says a new report from Goldman Sachs.
According to the financial institution’s research analysis, the labor force participation rate for United States workers between the ages of 55 and 65 rose by 0.7 percent per year between 200 and 2008. When looking at Americans between the ages of 65 and 74, the U.S. is second to Japan in the number of people still walking through the concrete jungle.
“Since 2008, the U.S. is the only country where the 55- to 64-year-old participation rate has declined,” Goldman economists Jan Hatzius and David Mericle said in an Oct. 14 report obtained by Newsmax Finance. “Even when we account for the starting participation rate in 2008 and limit the sample to men, the recent deceleration of U.S. old-age participation remains somewhat unusual.”
In the future, the labor force participation rate will continue to increase for senior workers (SEE: Goldman Sachs says unemployment rate falling amid people dropping out of workforce).
According to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the labor force participation rate hit 62.4 percent, the lowest since 1977 (SEE: U.S. labor force participation rate falls to 1977 levels at 62.6%). Essentially, the percentage of Americans who are looking for a job or aren’t working reached 94.7 million. Eventually, the number of people not working will outnumber those who are working (SEE: Americans not in the labor force could exceed number of people working by 2017). A part of the reason is because Baby Boomers are exiting the workforce as well as those in their 50s gave up looking for work.
I don’t believe most people are going to work much past 66.
My 2 older sisters retired at 65 and 67. I am 59 and have only worked part time in the last 10 years. I am unemployed now and my wife and I live on a small military pension, just fine.
We will be starting SS at 62 to travel and help family some.
People I talk to tell me they are going to retire between 62 and 66. Many are paying down debt so they can live on a lot less in retirement. No credit card debt, no mortgage.High debt may be the only thing keeping some on the job.
I only believe people making incomes above the bottom 50% staying on the job longer, because the income is high enough to make worth continuing to work. Low income workers will leave the workforce as soon as possible, because it is not going to change their standard of living, staying on the job.