The Baby Boomers and the X, Y, Z generations largely make up the working population in the USA or Canada.
The latest capital letter of the alphabet added to describe the generations is “U” This applies to those un-retired Boomers who can’t afford to stop working or who can by 65 but prefer not to.
The upside is that work can provide a connection with others, a sense of purpose and structure, benefit plans, additional income and so on. This is especially true if your job is a match for your financial needs, strengths, and interests.
At the other end of the continuum; the reverse can also be true where certain employment conditions do not meet our financial needs or match our interests.
Talking about change or lack of, agencies like Statistics Canada and the US Census still refer to 65 as the age of retirement, when mandatory retirement at 65 was repealed in 2012 by Canada and 1986 in the U.S.
Results from the Ipsos Reid poll conducted for the 2014 Sun Life Canadian Unretirement Index found that: “As we have seen in past years, those who plan to work past 65 fall into two camps. Thirty-five per cent say they’ll do so because they want to. Sixty-five per cent feel they will need to. The gap between the two has been gradually widening since 2011.”
In the US, labor market participation rates of people 65 years and older has increased and according to the United States Census Bureau (2013) : “Within the 65 and over population, 65 to 69-year-olds saw the largest change, increasing from 21.8 percent in 1990 to 30.8 percent in 2010.”
There is a publication found on the United States Census Bureau (2022) website titled; On The Population 65 Years and Older in the United States ( 2016). “This report provides a look at selected demographic, social, housing and economic characteristics of the 65 years and older population in the United States based on a 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) one-year of data.”
On page 2 of this report the following is stated about Boomers working over 65: “In addition to the older population being a larger segment of the U.S. population, many of the social norms associated with old age have changed in recent years. Individuals are remaining in the labor force past the typical retirement age of 65.” On page 16 of this report the authors also advise ; “This is particularly visible for the 65 to 74 age group, in which around 30 percent of males and 22 percent of females were in the labor force.”. The numbers in this survey report appear similar to those reported in 2013 above, based on the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) one-year data.
The demographics or age of the working population is dynamic, changing over the years. It is 2023 as I add this sentence and the changes are evident, I’m writing a new post to reflect these changes for interested readers!
