One In Six Seniors Working Well Past Age 65, Survey Finds

PR Newswire September 27, 2019

More seniors are remaining employed well after hitting retirement age of 65, a ValuePenguin.com study has found. For Americans over 75, the labor force participation rate has nearly doubled over the last 20 years.

ValuePenguin.com's analysis also found that occupations requiring very specific trade skills, such as embalmers and leather repairmen, employ the largest percentage of seniors, and that among the 100 largest cities in the country, some cities had a disproportionately large population of seniors in the workforce.

Key Findings:

·         More Seniors Prefer to Delay Retirement: The labor force participation rate for the 65-74 age group alone has increased by nine percentage points, from 18% to 27%, in the past 20 years. For the 75+ group, the labor force participation rate nearly doubled over the same time period.

·         Some Industries Heavily Rely on Seniors: Trade professions like embalmers, funeral attendants, repairmen, religious organizations and animal production rely heavily on working seniors — as much as 47% of their workforce is aged 65 or older, raising the question of the survival of these industries once these seniors retire.

·         The Gender Gap in Retirement: Men are much more likely than women to work into traditional retirement years. In 2018, nearly 32% of men between the ages of 65 and 74 were in the labor force. Yet only 23% of women of the same age were employed.

·         Cities With the Largest Population of Working Seniors: Among the 100 largest cities, Washington D.C.; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; Omaha, Nebraska; and Austin, Texas ranked as the top five cities with the largest proportion of working seniors - nearly a quarter of all residents age 65+ here are still in the workforce.

·         Cities Where Seniors are Least Likely to Work Past the Age of Retirement: It should come as little surprise that traditionally well-known retirement communities have low populations of senior workers. Places like Augusta, Georgia; Palm Bay, Florida; and Deltona, Florida ranked lowest in ValuePenguin's analysis, with just 1 in 10 residents 65+ employed.

·         Why Seniors Are Delaying Retirement: With the increase in cost of living, seniors may be forced to work for longer in order to save enough for a comfortable retirement. Seniors also will spend as much as three times more than a 21-year-old for health insurance alone, which does not take into account medical bills or the costs associated with utilizing such care. But most importantly, seniors may be opting to work just to keep their minds sharp and increase their physical and mental mobility.

To identify where seniors are working and why they may be delaying retirement, ValuePenguin.com analysts looked at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018 Current Population Survey in conjunction with U.S. Census Bureau 2013-2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Population 65 years and over in the United States), as well as ValuePenguin.com's own research on insurance costs and the average amount of savings among seniors.

To view the full report, visit: https://www.valuepenguin.com/seniors-work-well-past-retirement-age

Where are the most seniors staying in the workforce?
Metro area	65+ Seniors In the Workforce	Average Household Income for 65+ residents	Annual housing costs for 65+ residents	65+ residents with a Bachelor's degree or higher
Washington D.C.	24.90%	$97,902	$21,972	41.50%
Bridgeport, Connecticut	24.30%	$57,488	$22,668	14.50%
Boston, Massachusetts	22.70%	$102,621	$23,472	28.80%
Omaha, Nebraska	22.30%	$52,080	$15,372	29.50%
Austin, Texas	21.10%	$66,494	$19,572	42.90%
Dallas, Texas	21.10%	$70,729	$15,888	32.50%
Salt Lake City, Utah	21.10%	$70,483	$15,972	42.20%
Denver, Colorado	20.70%	$59,601	$17,304	38.60%
Houston, Texas	20.40%	$67,766	$15,672	30.70%
San Francisco, California	20.00%	$83,216	$30,324	36.10%
Baltimore, Maryland	19.90%	$59,132	$14,556	21.00%
Honolulu, Hawaii	19.80%	$78,984	$26,340	28.90%
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	19.60%	$44,607	$14,964	23.60%
Philadelphia	19.50%	$44,868	$18,612	17.80%
Nashville, Tennessee	19.40%	$43,946	$14,436	25.40%

About ValuePenguin.com: ValuePenguin.com, part of LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE), is a personal finance website that conducts in-depth research and provides objective analysis to help guide consumers to the best financial decisions. ValuePenguin focuses on value, assessing whether the return of a particular decision is worth the cost or risk of that option, and how this stacks up with the other possible choices they may have. For more information, please visit www.valuepenguin.com, like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter @ValuePenguin.

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