Economist Glaeser: Don't Plan on Retiring Soon

Monday, 21 Nov 2011 08:20 AM
By Julie Crawshaw

Economist Edward Glaeser says rapidly growing numbers of baby boomers aren't going to be able to retire anytime soon.

"The numbers supply a vivid picture of America’s graying work force," Glaeser writes in The New York Times.

"Between 2007 and 2010, the number of working Americans over 65 years old jumped 16 percent; the number of under-65’s in the labor force shrank."

The trend started before the current downturn, says Glaeser: the number of Americans over 65 in the labor force increased from 10.8 percent in 1985 to 12.1 percent in 1995 to 15.1 percent in 2005 to 17.4 percent in 2010.

"Until 2001, most workers age 65 and older had part-time jobs; since 2001, full-time work has been far more common," he says.

"Consider the difference between today’s extended work life and the average American work life during the mid-20th century in the midst of what was, in retrospect, a retirement boom," Glaeser says.

Again, the numbers present a vivid picture: from the ’40s to the ’80s, the percentage of men who were 65 and older in the labor force fell precipitously — from 47 percent in 1949 to 15.6 percent in 1993.

"By the 1980s, retirement at age 65 was nearly universal for American workers, says Glaeser. "Today, however, 36.5 percent of 65- to 69-year-old men are still part of
America’s labor force."

Today, Glaeser notes, comparatively few workers over the age of 55 work in heavy industrial fields like manufacturing, construction or mining.

“By far the largest portion of older workers today work in the education and health sectors,â€