Senior Spotlight: Unretirement On The Rise

Headlines across the web are talking about the ‘golden years’ turning into the ‘green year’s as older adults need more money and return to work after retirement. Our Senior Spotlight this week will reveal how many Americans are expected to come out of retirement in 2024, as well as the leading reasons why. 

Resume Builder® recently released a study that revealed 12% of retired Americans plan to start working again in 2024. Of older Americans who are currently working, 25% were retired at one time but later returned to the workforce. Only 8% of older workers plan to retire in 2025. The ‘unretirement’ trend is not entirely new, as COVID-19 led to 2.4 million excess retirements (according to the Federal Reserve of St. Loius). By March 2022, 1.5 million retirees had returned to the workforce. 

The reasons behind the growing unretirement phase will not surprise you. 61% cited their top reason for returning to work as inflation and the cost of living; 34% of those surveyed stated they had not saved enough money for retirement; 34% desired more funds to pay down debt and an equal amount, 34%, wanted to combat boredom and pursue purpose again. 

Yet wanting to go back to work and actually going back to work can be two different things. On one hand, returning retirees can help fill vacant jobs and stabilize the workforce that is suffering from a lack of talent. On the other hand, 2/3 of retirees worry that age discrimination will impact their opportunities, while employers have expressed concerns about older workers adapting to technological trends such as AI.

Another challenge is that older workers could ‘clog up’ the succession pipeline of younger workers into leadership roles. A win-win solution to this has been proposed by global account leader in consumer practice, Korn Ferry, who suggests pairing former retirees with high-potential young workers. This mentor-mentee relationship enables older workers to guide more inexperienced workers in balancing growth and cost management (an important lesson for younger workers who have not experienced prolonged downturn). 

Have you always thought retirement was ‘forever’? Have you retired and considered returning to work for reasons other than financial? What would you tell yourself 20 years ago if you knew what you know now about retirement transitions? 

We hope this week’s topic has posed some reality-based reflections and inspired you to make the best decisions for you. 

Cheers to flipping the script as you write your own retirement chapter, 

Bobbi 

Resources Used: ‘Unretiring’ is a growing trend: AARP; 1 in 8 Retirees Plan To Go Back to Work in 2024; ‘Unretiring’ to Work; “Unretiring”: Why Recent Retirees Want to Go Back to Work

Bobbi Decker
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