Workers are planning to stay in the work force longer than they originally planned, with almost half saying they will work until they are at least 66 years old, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 82% of Americans over the age of 50 think it is at least somewhat likely that they will continue with employment into their retirement years.
“Many people had experienced a big downward movement in their 401(k) plans, so they’re trying to make up for that period of time when they lost money,” Olivia Mitchell, a retirement expert who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Associated Press.
According to the survey, about 47% of working adults now expect to retire at about 66, or three years later than when they thought they would retire when they reached 40. Men, racial minorities, parents of minor children and those with annual salaries less than $50,000 were the respondents most likely to say they were putting off retirement plans.
At least people are giving it due consideration. About 75% of workers said they have given retirement a great deal of thought. Of those, 78% said financial reasons were the extremely important factor in their retirement considerations, while 75% cited health and 68% said it was their ability to do their job. Another 67% said they needed their employer for health insurance and other benefits.
Tom Sadowski, a 65-year-old graphic designer, told the Associated Press that at his age, his father already had been retired for 10 years and moved to Florida. “Times are different now for most people,” he said. Sadowski, who had his business and retirement savings hit by the recession, said that he plans to work full-time until he is 70.
Sadowski and other older workers are part of an overall trend that is finding seniors staying in the workforce longer than they used to. After the advent of Social Security in the 1930s, the number of older workers kept dropping. However, in the late 1990s, the trend began to reverse to the point that fastest growing segment of the labor force are seniors.
Those 55 and older now are projected to make up 25% of the workforce by 2020, according to the Associated Press.
There also has been a change in how people view living in their older years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that many older Americans who are part of the Baby Boom generation expect to remain active far longer than previous generations.
In the Associated Press survey, six out of 10 people said they felt younger than their age, and respondents said that, on average, a person is not old until they reach 72.
The survey was conducted in August and September of this year. The 1,024 respondents were all age 50 and older.
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