{"id":8605,"date":"2021-11-04T14:30:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T19:30:32","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:56:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:56:26","slug":"amid-the-pandemic-a-rising-share-of-older-u-s-adults-are-now-retired","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2021\/11\/04\/amid-the-pandemic-a-rising-share-of-older-u-s-adults-are-now-retired\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid the pandemic, a rising share of older U.S. adults are now retired"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"An
(Francis Dean\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As employers contend with growing numbers of younger employees quitting in the great resignation<\/a>, the COVID-19 recession and gradual labor market recovery has also been accompanied by an increase in retirement among adults ages 55 and older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As of the third quarter of 2021, 50.3% of U.S. adults 55 and older said they were out of the labor force due to retirement, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the most recent official labor force data. In the third quarter of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic, 48.1% of those adults were retired. In regard to specific age groups, in the third quarter of 2021 66.9% of 65- to 74-year-olds were retired, compared with 64.0% in the same quarter of 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leading edge of the Baby Boomer generation reached age 62 (the age at which workers can claim Social Security) in 2008. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>