The American workforce is aging. According to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average age of the American labor force was About 42 years old in 2022, up from 40 years old in 2002. Nineteen percent of adults are 65 or older Currently working, compared to 11 percent in 1987. Further, workers age 75 and older are the fastest growing labor population. Americans can start Receiving Social Security benefits Full benefits at age 62 and age 66, but employees Long wait for retirement.
The nation’s leaders are similarly delaying retirement. Presidential candidates Joe Biden, 81, and Donald Trump, 78, are doing well after what is considered retirement age. The The average legislator in the United States is 61 And The average age in the Supreme Court is over 63 years. Given the age of these leaders, the majority of Americans now In favor of upper age limit For elected officials and Supreme Court justices; Biden’s coming-of-age story only accelerated after his disastrous debate performance.
There are many reasons why someone might delay retirement. Maybe they have insufficient savings, they Find meaning and fulfillment in their workor their Identity is tied to their profession. People may also choose to stick with their jobs because they enjoy the power and prestige that comes with it, says Mo Wangis a professor at the University of Florida who studies retirement and the employment of older workers.
Regardless of your role and influence, there are many factors to consider when retiring. Wang shares what keeps people from passing the torch and how to make your retirement years as fulfilling as possible.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
What prevents people from retiring?
A very important point will be the identification of human work. Work is an important part of people’s lives, and many people define themselves by their work identity. Retirement means they are going to lose their work identity, and this is usually an important reason why people don’t want to retire. Many people work because they enjoy their status, they enjoy their influence, and retirement means they will lose those things.
Why is it so difficult to free our identity from work?
Our education tells us that working is beneficial. Working is very valuable in our life. People see working or being productive as a very good quality, a quality for their life. We learn to use our work identities to communicate who we are.
Are there ways outside of work to feel connected to identity and power?
We found that for professional workers, after retirement, they may still be engaged in some similar work activity in terms of volunteering, or they may be engaged in some other activity similar to their pre-retirement job. It would be really good for them to replace their worker identity. We also found that strong family support and family engagement will help replace worker identity because sometimes, after people retire, they enjoy being grandparents. They support their family identity more so that they can change for the better.
We encourage employees to transition into a mentoring role, passing on knowledge and experience to the next generation. This often helps retirees feel that they are still engaged in their professional field and that they are still contributing to the organization. You allow them to keep a little bit of their employee identity so they don’t have to suddenly say goodbye to everything.
Are there certain types of jobs that make it harder for people to retire?
It’s hard to talk to different industries; What we found is actually quite common. Among people in basically all different jobs, if they have a strong worker identity, it is somewhat difficult for them to detach themselves from such an identity and retire. This is especially difficult because in the US, we don’t have mandatory retirement for most jobs. If people don’t want to retire, most of the time, they can stay in their jobs.
Should there be mandatory retirement?
For very important jobs we do — for firefighters, air traffic controllers. In many top executive jobs at Fortune 500 companies, they actually build a mandatory retirement clause into their contracts as well. It really depends on the discussion [specific] Determines whether a mandatory retirement clause will be written into the contract. Especially if cognitive function is critical to the job, I think having some mandatory time and age, or a well-thought-out assessment process to ensure the ability to complete the job is very important.
Is there any way we can adequately assess our own abilities? Basically, how do we know we’re still doing a good job?
Scholars and researchers in Finland have actually developed it Assessment for work ability To assess whether the person is still competent and still has the ability to carry out their work. This is a pretty comprehensive assessment. It involves a cognitive assessment, a mental health-related assessment. It is from an occupational health point of view to ensure that the person can complete the work without creating any danger to themselves, the workplace will be healthy for them. Europeans have somewhat more experience than the US in this regard. In the United States, such assessments are often viewed as unnecessary. The United States often emphasizes people’s work experience over 360-degree evaluations.
Do you see Americans’ relationship with work and the value of institutional knowledge as a factor in our aging workforce?
In fact, labor shortage, this is why we have to retain the aging workforce because we don’t have good labor supply for teachers, nurses. We are lacking those professional staff. We need people to work longer hours. The flip side is that we often rely on human experience. If people are willing to work and they are doing a particular task in a successful way, we feel comfortable letting them do the work without checking whether there is any reduction in work ability. I think it goes both ways. On the one hand, we need those people, human capital. On the other hand, because we believe that people’s experience means a lot to them in getting the job done, we don’t evaluate people in their work assignments or evaluate them unnecessarily to better position them.
What would an appropriate assessment look like?
I would say that it should probably include some cognitive assessment, making sure that people are mentally equipped to perform the mental operations for their job, such as a certain level of memory, a certain level of attention. [and] Pay attention to their work. Then the physical aspect: making sure people can manage the day-to-day functioning of their jobs. For example, can they go to work on time and not have difficulty performing basic physical activities at work? Also, assess whether they are actually motivated to do their work. Many people are not engaged in their work. They are not getting much satisfaction from their work. If they don’t enjoy doing their job, maybe retirement is the right thing to do.
Speaking of that motivation, I can imagine it’s hard to retire if you still feel motivated, or have something to contribute, or are good at. Is that worth sticking around for?
This is assuming that they are the sole decision makers. Most of the time, we also have to think about it from the employer’s point of view, whether the employer is taking any opportunity not to replace the worker, even if the worker is willing to stay. Just because an employee is really motivated to work doesn’t mean we should always keep that person in the same job. Maybe we can shift the work according to their work ability or reassign them to better utilize their human capital.
For those who have a hard time in retirement, what finally pushes them to pass the torch?
Often it is a physical health component. Usually it’s because, physically, they couldn’t go on. Another major factor would be family needs: if they need to care for their sick spouse, or care for their parents. Many people will retire to take care of that family. These are generally seen as involuntary retirements. They are not really deciding to retire, but circumstances dictate that they should. Most people retire voluntarily. People don’t struggle that much with retirement most of the time. They know when they want to retire, and then they plan about it.
How can anyone know when it’s time?
If the individual’s personal circumstances do not allow them to continue working and also if the organization has good succession planning and they already have a successor. If they don’t have a viable successor, what they’re hoping for is that the person stays in the job as long as they can.
