Elderly in the US opt to defy or delay retirement

WASHINGTON — They tidy the baggage carts in airports, they sell clothes or work as cashiers in supermarkets at an age when their peers have long ago retired.

Working after 75 is becoming less and less unusual in the United States.

Sandy Thorpe, 76, is part of this growing cohort of US citizens who continue to toil in their later years. By necessity, but by choice too.

“One of the main reasons I continue working is I have a very good medical insurance,” she said.

Healthcare is a common concern in a country where medical costs can be in the tens of thousands of dollars and quickly eat through a lifetime of savings.

Thorpe started working 16 years ago. After a short time running a cleaning service, she is now correspondence coordinator for a prison fellowship, located in Virginia, near Washington.

When she divorced, she had to face facts: her modest pension was insufficient to pay the bills or heal properly from an injury received playing soccer. An active women’s soccer league in the Washington area includes divisions for players over 50, and over 60.

“I am lucky,” she said. “I am in great health. I love my job. I work for a nonprofit ministry, I help people who are in need.”

And in addition to the health benefits, “It keeps my mind sharp,” she said, adding that she doesn’t even use all of her vacation days each year.

“I will stay as long they want to have me.”

The phenomenon of older Americans continuing to work “is slightly more a bad news story than a good news story,” said Jacob Kirkegaard, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The share of people aged 75 and over who are in the labor force jumped to 8.3 percent in 2017 from 5.3 percent in 2000.

At the same time, for those over 80, the rate doubled to 6 percent, according to US Labor Department data.

Many are casualties of the 2008 financial crisis: the collapse of the financial and real estate markets occurred as a large proportion of baby boomers were approaching retirement.

Many counting on their mutual funds to support their old age, saw their savings wiped out, and their homes worthless or forfeit.

“They don’t have other choice than continue to work. They simply cannot retire,” Kirkegaard said, noting that the United States has the highest income inequality among retirees in OECD, due to the lack of a sufficient public pension system.

And as companies continue to struggle to find enough workers, employers will make increased use of this experienced workforce, that has the reputation of being more reliable than their younger counterparts.

Some swimming pools have reportedly hired lifeguards even into their 80s, eschewing the traditional teenage workers to fill the role.