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Working Longer: 20% of Americans Not Retiring When Reaching 65

© Flickr / Ed YourdonElderly Woman Reading in New York City.
Elderly Woman Reading in New York City. - Sputnik International
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According to data provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, up to 20% of Americans 65 and older are not retiring, the highest percentage since the early 1960s, before the implementation of Medicare.

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A 2015 Federal Reserve study found that 27% of Americans will stay at their jobs as long as they can, while 12% have no plans to retire.

These numbers may just denote a simple need for money and benefits. That's the reason three in five retirees, questioned by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, claimed they were working past the age of 65.

Almost half of the respondents said they needed the money. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that 60% of US households have no money in a 401(k) or similar retirement account, and the benefits of 401(k)s are skewed toward the wealthiest Americans.

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Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said they intended to continue working because they liked their jobs. Research conducted by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College in 2013 found that people with higher-education credentials tend to work longer, and since 1985, the number of older Americans with college degrees has increased by a factor of three, to about a third of the 60- to 74-year-old demographic.

Skilled and experienced workers are more valuable to employers. Based on the Center for Retirement Research findings, the highest salary years have shifted from the 40s to the 50s by 2010, and Americans in their late 60s were making 30 percent more than they did 25 years earlier.

Working past 65 doesn't necessarily mean retirement will be shorter, as the average life expectancy in the US has risen compared to three decades ago.

A less optimistic but possible reason would be that Americans are not enjoying their golden age. Employee Benefit Research Institute found that between 1998 and 2012 there has been a decline in the share of respondents, regardless of economic group, who claim that they are happy in retirement.

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