US Rate of New Retirees More Than Doubles During Pandemic - Report

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Elderly Americans are retiring at more than double the rate during the decade preceding the coronavirus pandemic, a Pew Research Center report said.

“Between 2008 and 2019, the retired population ages 55 and older grew by about 1 million retirees per year. In the past two years, the ranks of retirees 55 and older have grown by 3.5 million,” the report said on Thursday.

As of the third quarter of 2021, 50.3 percent of US adults 55 and older said they were out of the labor force due to retirement. In the third quarter of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic, 48.1 percent of those adults were retired, the report added.

Pew based its report on an analysis of the most recent official labor force data.

The retirement uptick among older Americans is important because, until the pandemic arrived, adults ages 55 and older were the only working age population since 2000 to increase their labor force participation, the report said.

Newly published labor force projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggest the pandemic-induced increase in retirement by older adults will be temporary, the report added.

BLS projects large increases in labor force participation among older adults from 2020 to 2030, with nearly 40 percent of 65- to 69-year-olds being in the labor force by 2030, up from 33 percent in 2020, according to the report.