{"id":17372,"date":"2009-09-15T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2009-09-15T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/older-workers-want-to-work\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:42:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:42:58","slug":"older-workers-want-to-work","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2009\/09\/15\/older-workers-want-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Older Workers Want to Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Attitudes about work reflect the growing desire of an aging but healthy population to stay active well into the later years of life. A nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center\u2019s Social &amp; Demographic Trends project finds that a majority (54%) of workers ages 65 and older say the main reason they work is that they want to. Just 17% say the main reason is that they need the paycheck. An additional 27% say they\u2019re motivated by a mix of desire and need. When asked to identify specific reasons for working, older workers emphasize psychological and social factors: \u201cto feel useful\u201d, \u201cto give myself something to do\u201d, \u201cto be with other people.\u201d Younger and middle-aged workers are much more inclined to cite classic pocketbook considerations: \u201cto support myself and my family\u201d, \u201cto live independently\u201d, \u201cto qualify for retirement benefits\u201d, \u201cto receive health care benefits.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/pubs\/1330\/american-work-force-is-graying\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A majority (54%) of workers ages 65 and older say the main reason they work is that they want to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_api_pending":"1713064069","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_hidden":false,"relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[],"bylines":[791],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"collection":[],"class_list":["post-17372","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-pew-research-center-staff","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short 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