Warning: Many Seniors Face Nearly Impossible Financing 30 Years Of Retirement With 40 Years Of Work
Many workers are facing a nearly impossible challenge: financing 30 years of retirement with only 40 years of work, two National Bureau of Research economists warned today.
“If a couple (in their early 60s) retired today, the survivor of the couple would have about a 40 percent chance of living an additional 30 years,” Robert Clark and John Shoven said in a report to a Brookings Institute symposium on the elderly in the workplace.
With the Baby Boomer generation nearing and surpassing the traditional retirement age of 65, they noted the proportion of the labor force age 55 and over rose from 11.9 percent in 1994 to 21.7.
It is expected to hit 24.8 percent by 2024.
At the same time, the economists pointed out the share of persons 55 and older working rose from 30.1 percent in 1994 to 40.0 percent in 2014.
A tight labor market, like the one employers are coping with now, companies may decide to retain older workers or even to hire older workers to fill vacancies, Brookings Institution economist Martin Baily and Ben Harris, once chief economist to former Vice President Joe Biden, told the session in a paper.
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