British researchers have theorized that working past retirement age can delay dementia. The Boston Globe theorizes that this may be a benefit to older Americans forced to continue working.
On one point there is no question: Since the start of the recession, more people nearing or just past retirement age have opted to stay in the workforce. Polina Vlasenko, a researcher at the American Institute for Economic Research, analyzed years of national data and found that the labor force participation rate of people ages 54 to 69 is now at the highest levels on record.
“It is likely that people close to or past retirement age feel the need to work because their retirement savings have suffered in the recent financial crisis,’’ she concluded in her May study.
There are also several studies that show Boomers and beyond are continuing to work because they WANT to do so. We call it “un-retirement.”
Whether mature consumers are working because they choose to or because they have to, marketers need to be aware that they’ll be spending their time and money in different ways. For example, housing communities that decades ago promoted tennis courts and maj-jong should be looking instead at business centers and home offices. Todd Harff wrote about the “un-retirement” trend and active adult housing for a Spring 2007 50+ Housing Magazine article titled “Working for a Life (not a living)”.
