How Many Americans Keep Working After 65? Retirement and Labor Force Trends Explained

Key Takeaways

• Roughly one in five Americans age 65 and older are still working, showing that retirement often includes at least some paid employment.

• Many older adults move into part-time jobs, and a far larger share of workers in this age group are part-time than among those ages 55 to 64.

• After many years of decline, later-life work participation has been rising again since the 1990s, aside from a temporary pandemic setback.

Retirement does not always mean leaving the labor force completely. For many Americans, the boundary between working and retirement has become more flexible, and that change is visible in the numbers.

How Many Americans Work After 65?

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that a notable portion of older Americans remain employed or are looking for work. In 2024, nearly 20% of people age 65 and older were in the labor force.

That total includes both full-time and part-time work. About 12% of Americans 65 and older held full-time jobs, while more than 7% worked part-time.

Among those who are employed, shorter schedules are more common. More than a third of workers age 65 and older, 38.3%, work part-time, compared with about one in seven workers ages 55 to 64, or 14.2%.

The figures also show a gender gap. In 2024, 23.4% of men age 65 and older were in the workforce, versus 16.2% of women in the same age group.

Why It Matters

More people are working later in life, whether because they want to or because they need to. That makes retirement planning more complex, especially when it comes to income, savings, and flexibility.

Working Past 65 Is Not New, But the Trend Has Shifted

Although later-life work can seem like a recent development, the long-term picture is more complicated. In the years after World War II, a larger share of older Americans worked than do today.

Labor force participation among people 65 and older declined steadily through the second half of the 20th century, reaching a low point in the 1980s and 1990s, when only about 11% to 12% were still working.

That pattern has since turned upward. Participation began rising again in the late 1990s and kept increasing for years. The pandemic briefly disrupted the climb, but the share has since resumed rising, reflecting longer life expectancy, changing job patterns, and financial pressures that keep some Americans employed.

What This Means for Retirement Planning

For many Americans, retirement is becoming less of a single finish line and more of a gradual transition. Instead of stopping work altogether, some people are choosing, or needing, to remain in the workforce in some capacity.

Several factors are behind that shift. Some older adults keep working to stretch savings or cope with rising costs, while others do it for social interaction, a sense of purpose, or an easier move into retirement through part-time work.

Taken together, these trends point to a more flexible model of retirement planning. Income may come from several sources, including Social Security, savings, and, for some, continued work, making financial stability and adaptability increasingly important.