Why more older adults are opting to stay in the workforce

According to a Pew Research Center report, 62% of individuals 65 and older are still working full-time, compared to just 47% in 1987. Yahoo Finance's Kerry Hannon joins Wealth! to provide insight into why older adults are still clocking in, and how their presence may benefit companies.

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This post was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

- Switching gears here for a hot second. More older workers are working now than in previous decades. 62% of older workers are working full time compared with 47% in 1987. That's according to Pew Research Center.

Carrie, I hate using the word "old." So we'll just say more seasoned, more intelligent largely folks out there still in the workforce. Why should employers consider hiring older workers as they classify?

- Yeah, yeah. I mean, come on. Get with it. I mean, what planet are they on? This study that came out by Transamerica the past week or so ago showed that when they talk to employers, they thought that 62 should be the cutoff for hiring-- I mean 58 should be the cutoff for hiring and 62 really is when people should start stepping out of the workplace. But in fact, that is so not true and that more of us are working longer for many reasons-- for financial stability, just because we simply love being on the job, the mental engagement, all of the great things that come with working.

But more importantly, for employers is demographic changes mean you have to look at this demographic because there's not as many younger workers coming up. And as the population shifts to an aging global workforce, they need to start making accommodations to figure out how do we attract these people and retain them that have the experience. We don't-- they can do the job right now. We don't have to onboard them, train them in any massive way. It's really cost effective that way.

And truly, an older worker tends to be more loyal. Not as much job jumping there. But the most important thing is they're qualified. And in the labor market today that is still fairly tight, where workers saying, we really need to find workers that can do our jobs, this is the group that you need to be looking towards and making accommodations, things like phased retirement, flexible work schedules, job sharing, more workplace training for not just the younger workers, but the older workers. Become age friendly, and that's kind of the message out there.

- Yeah. Maturity, interpersonal skills as well and historical context, all good things for some of the upper end of the workforce to be able to pitch to some of those potential employers out there as well. Carrie, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

- Thanks, Brad.