The graying of the American workforce continues: Baby boomers are working longer and earning more than their predecessors did in what Americans typically think of as retirement years, new research finds.

Almost 20% of Americans ages 65 and older were employed this year, according to a new report from Pew Research Center. That’s nearly double the share of those who were working 35 years ago. In total, there are around 11 million Americans 65 or older who are working today, comprising 7% of all wages and salaries paid by U.S. employers. In 1987, they made up 2%.

And not only are more Americans at or above the traditional retirement age of 65 working, but they are also earning substantially more compared with what older workers earned in the 1980s. Now, the typical older worker earns $22 per hour, compared with $13 per hour then. Their wage growth—some of which can be attributed to their working longer hours than older Americans did in the past—has outpaced that of workers ages 25 to 64 over the same time period, according to Pew’s research, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey and the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking.

  • the post of tom joad
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    6 months ago

    What a useless article. It doesn’t even account for inflation. Is it designed to make boomers feel good about having to be a wal-mart greeter to survive?

    Perhaps they are “bored” in retirement because even after a lifetime of labor there isn’t enough money left to do anything but sit and watch tv?

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      316 months ago

      I’ve lost count of how many boomers I’ve heard say “I don’t know what I would do with myself if I didn’t have to work”. Fuck that generation. They had a chance for everything and said “whatever!” And just did nothing instead.

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        6 months ago

        Literally heard a group of boomers talking over coffee the other day. One goes " weird we haven’t had snow, I guess it could be because of global warming" then another goes “yeah but not like we need to care!” Then they all had a big laugh about it…

      • the post of tom joad
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        156 months ago

        They’re the same flavor fucked as us. I don’t hate them for not knowing what to do with themselves without working. I hate the meat grinder we’re in

        First, their ‘i love work’ attitude is both taught from society (look at this article for example) and straight up cope. Not just that; their lives like our lives have been consumed by work and the business of living. I too have had precious little time and energy to spare on developing ourselves outside it.

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          6 months ago

          In a country like US there should never be a shortage of jobs. And all jobs should pay a living. Also provide many opportunities to climb the ladder. There should not be a shortage on American Dream basically.