One in four Americans in the 65-and-over age bracket remain in the workforce, and more plan to rejoin it at some point in 2025 for a variety of reasons including rising costs, boredom and job satisfaction. This is according to a survey conducted by ResumeTemplates.com.
The survey, conducted in January among 1,000 U.S. respondents in the target age range, found that 22% had “unretired” and returned to work. Six percent of surveyed retirees want to return to work this year, and among the listed reasons, rising costs are motivating more than half of retirees to consider their own “unretirements.”
Among other listed reasons, 36% cite “boredom” as a chief motivator to return to work, while 29% said they needed additional income to pay off existing debt.
Julia Toothacre, the chief career strategist for Resume Templates, said that older workers need to be aware of the potential for age discrimination in the workplace as they remain employed or plan to return to a job.
“If you’re currently employed, you might find yourself in situations where someone is trying to push you out. If you’re returning to the workforce, you’ll find it difficult in some functions and industries because hiring managers believe you’ll cost more and might be less efficient,” Toothacre said. “These judgments won’t apply to everyone, but people need to be aware of them.”
At 61%, job satisfaction among older workers who have not yet retired is largely on the higher end, but 42% of them also acknowledge that one reason they remain working is out of fear of boredom in retirement.
“The majority of employed seniors work part-time (11%), while another 11% remain in full-time roles,” the survey results stated. “Younger seniors, particularly those aged 65 to 70, are the most likely to continue working.”
Recent data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) indicated that as the U.S. population gets older at a faster rate, so too does the workforce. The organization found that labor force participation by older Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 had surpassed pre-pandemic levels, while the rate for those 65 and older did not change.
But the figure in the Resume Templates survey is largely similar to findings published last year by LendingTree, which was based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau‘s Household Pulse Survey.
Other census data from last year suggested that New England leads the nation for the percentage of workers who are at least 65.
