Working into their sixties and beyond

Baby Boomers are not going gently into retirement, a new study suggests.

Men and women in their 50s today are much more likely than earlier groups of fifty-somethings to say they will be working full-time after the traditional retirement age of 65.

Will the Boomers be working or retiring in 2010? And why do we care?

U-M economist Robert Willis compared the work and retirement expectations of nationally representative samples of 51 to 56-year-old men and women with various educational levels surveyed in 1992, 1998 and 2004.  His findings provide a window into the future on the crucial issue of whether the Boomers will retire early or late.

"Past research shows that subjective expectations tend to be fairly accurate, and that there is a strong relationship between measures of expected retirement and actual retirement," Willis said.

The new analysis provides good news for Social Security and Medicare, showing an across-the-board increase in the proportion who see their working lives lasting well into their sixties.  The largest jump occurs among men with some college.  In that group, 32.4 percent surveyed in 1992 expected to be working full-time after age 65, compared with 46.3 percent who were surveyed in 2004.

Source: University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR)