The percentage of people continuing to work at older ages continues to rise, according to newly released data from the Urban Institute.
It found that as of year-end 2012, 40.7 percent of persons age 55 and older, and 26.5 percent of those age 62 and older, are still in the workforce, figures that have crept up by several tenths of a percentage point each year since 2007. Both figures are substantially higher than in 2000, when the numbers were just 32.4 and 17.2 percent, respectively.
The study also showed that the unemployment rate among those age groups—that is, those wishing to work—has decreased steadily from a peak of 7 and 6.7 percent, respectively, in 2010 to 5.9 percent in both groups. However, that remains well above the rates of around 3 percent before the recession began in 2007.
The average amount of time that unemployed older persons needed to find work similarly is decreasing but is still above its pre-recession levels, the report said.
