Retirement, Previously Known As Work
Retirement as a time of extended leisure may well be ending for some. As Michael Winerip recently reported back in 1988, only 11% of people 65 and older were still working. As recently as two years ago, 16.8% of those 65 and older were still working.
Now, with nest eggs depleted from the Great Recession, and a collective desire to remain engaged, there’s a new study out from the Department of Labor that looks ahead to 2018 when those 65 and older will be mostly boomers. And Mitra Toossi, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that 22.4% of them are expected to still be working.
The issue is drawing attention. This week The New York Times has a story which shows what a delayed retirement might look like. And The Economist weighs in on what’s ahead as businesses learn to master managing an aging workforce.
For a generation where both genders entered the workplace in record numbers, and grappled with work/family responsibilities, it may be time to break out the cartography tools once again. There’s only a sketchy road map of what its like to be “Working Retired” to use the phrase coined by Mark Penn in Microtrends.
This week we’ll be taking a look at some of the issues surrounding this new concept of retirement that was previously known as work.
Tags: Retirement, Working
