Survey: EBRI Reports More Americans Working into Older Age

An analysis of U.S. census figures by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows that the U.S. labor-force participation rate is increasing for those age 55 and older. In addition, the increase for those ages 55–64 is driven almost exclusively by an increase of women in the work force, while the labor force participation rate increased for both men and women age 65 and above.

Published in the June 2007 EBRI Notes, the article--"Labor-Force Participation: The Population Age 55 and Older"--reports that, in the "near-elderly" 55–64 age group, labor force participation for women increased from 57.1% in
1993 to 66.7% in 2006; for men, participation dipped from 78.3% to 77.7% in those same years. For those age 65 and older, participation among men rose from 14.8% to 20.3% and for women from 8.1% to 11.7%. EBRI also compares the participation rate for those without pension income to those with pension income.

Source: EBRI News Release (June 12, 2007)