A new research report, published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), finds that among working Americans ages 55 and older, the labor force is aging. The research finds that workers ages 65 and older make up a larger portion of the age 55 and older workforce than they did in 2000. The percentage of those ages 65 and older increased from 23% in 2000 to 29.5% in 2023. This happened while the labor force participation rates of those ages 55 to 64 surpassed pre-pandemic levels, while the labor force participation rates of those ages 65 and older did not.
Key findings in the research report are below.
- In 2022 and 2023, among males, the labor force participation rates of those ages 60 to 64 increased but declined for those ages 75 and older. Increases in the labor force participation rates of females ages 55 to 59 and 70 to 74 also were seen in 2022 and 2023, but the labor force participation rates declined for females ages 60 to 64 in 2023.
- After rising to its highest point since 2001, in 2022, the male share of the labor force ages 55 and older decreased in 2023. The female share of the labor force ages 55 and older has generally fallen since 2010, though it did increase slightly in 2023. Despite this, females ages 55 and older are still a higher share of the labor force than they were in the late 1990s.
- In 2022 and 2023, the labor force participation rates of those ages 70 to 74 trended towards 2019 levels but did not quite reach these rates. The labor force participation rates of those ages 55 to 59 and ages 60 to 64 surpassed 2019 levels in 2023. In contrast, the labor force participation rate of those ages 75 and older in 2023 stayed at its 2021 level, below its 2019 level, while the labor force participation rate of those aes 65 to 69 decreased in 2023 to below its 2022 and 2019 levels.
- Across the age categories of 55 and older, 65 and older, and 75 and older, Hispanic Americans have the highest labor force participation rate in 2023 compared to white and Black Americans, despite having some of the lowest rates in 2000. Conversely, white Americans, who had the highest labor force participation rates in 2000, had some of the lowest rates compared with Hispanic and Black Americans in 2023.
- From 2000 to 2023, the share of the labor force of Americans ages 55 and older who are Hispanic grew from 5.9% to 13.3%. At the same time, the share of this population that’s white decreased from 87.4% to 80.7%.
“The movement of the baby boomer generation out of the age groups younger than 65 has made the composition of the older workforce even older,” says Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI. “At the same time, the older workforce is becoming more diverse, as a smaller share of white Americans comprise the ages 55 and older population. These are important considerations to understand, as older workers and a more diverse workforce calls for additional or new answers to the optimal design of employee benefit plans.”
