April 2019
Introduction: The tendency of U.S. workers to stay in the labor force longer, including beyond the traditional retirement age of 65, has grown over the past two decades. Recent research has shown that the expected annual growth rate of workers between age 65 and 74 is 4.5 percent and for those past 75 is 6.4 percent until 2024. Additionally, the percentage of workers in the labor force past age 55 rose to 22 percent in 2015, up from 13 percent in the year 2000—a trend that is expected to continue at a steady pace well beyond 2020.