Older Workers: Force of the Future?

Abstract

Thirty years ago, half of all elderly (65 years and over) men in the United States worked. Today, less than a fifth do. Among elderly women, there has been little change: 10 percent were in the labor force in 1950 and about 8 percent were in 1981. The labor force participation of older men 55 to 64 years dropped also but women between the ages of 55 and 64 increasingly joined the labor force, from just over a fourth in 1950 to 42 percent today.