The Militant - April 13, 2009 -- Older workers delay retirement as economic crisis intensifies

Vol. 73/No. 14 April 13, 2009

Older workers delay retirement
as economic crisis intensifies

BY CINDY JAQUITH
Six out of 10 people over 60 years of age have decided not to retire yet because they cannot afford to, says a new survey. Soaring medical expenses, erosion of pension plans, and devastation of many workers’ retirement investments due to the capitalist economic crisis are among the factors.

CareerBuilder, an online job search site, conducted the survey. Based on a poll in late November 2008, it found that 73 percent of those interviewed thought they would have to work up to six years longer to have enough savings to retire, while 24 percent felt they could retire in a year or two. Eleven percent of respondents did not think they would ever be able to quit working.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of those people 65 or older in 2008, there were 6.3 million still in the workforce, 16.8 percent of that age bracket. That’s up from 11.9 percent 10 years ago, reported the Wall Street Journal. The number of those working who are 75 or older jumped even more, from 4.7 percent of all people that age to 7.3 percent, or 1.3 million.

Along with being forced to work longer, elderly workers are more vulnerable to layoffs. The Journal said that the number of workers 75 or over who were unemployed in January was more than 73,000, up 46 percent from a year ago. The average time it takes an unemployed worker over 55 to get a new job is 25 weeks, the paper said, compared to 19 weeks for younger workers.

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