EBRI Issue Brief
The Work and Retirement Patterns of Older Americans
Summary
- Although most persons are employed
in lengthy jobs during their prime working years, nearly
6 in 10 workers leave career employment before age 60.
- Almost two-thirds of workers remain
in the labor force following the end of their longest
held job, and more than one-third work for 10 years or
more.
- About one-quarter of household
heads reverse initial retirement decisions, and more than
one in four partial retirees also reverse this status.
- Men aged 55–64 were less than
three-quarters as likely to be working in 1988 as in
1948; for those aged 65 and over, the figure was
one-third.
- Among women aged 65 and over, 7.9
percent were in the labor force in 1988, compared with
9.1 percent in 1948.
- There is clear evidence that Social
Security incentives cause moderate reductions in the
labor supply among workers reaching age 62.
- Among workers over age 55, 24.5
percent worked part time in 1968, compared with 29.4
percent in 1987.
- Partial retirement rarely occurs
among persons under age 62, increases rapidly between age
62 and age 67, and then gradually declines.
- Worsening health accounts for
little, if any, of the trend toward earlier retirement.
