It’s been a few years since the peak of the pandemic, so I thought I would look at the impact that the big event had on the average age of retirement.
I heard a politician say that some of the shortages in the current jobs market are the result of Boomers leaving their jobs to retire early.
I’ve written this blog long enough to be considered a retirement expert of sorts, and that didn’t sound quite right. I quickly found this article in Forbes that suggests the opposite is true. People are working longer. The average age of retirement has crept from 62 to 63 years old in the last few years.
Here are some statistics from Forbes …
- Average age of Retirement: 63
- +1 year since 2019; +3 years since 1992
- For Men, it’s 65; for Women it’s 62
- College Grads 66; High School Grads 62
- Hispanic & Black workers tend to retire slightly earlier than the US averages.
So, there’s no evidence that the pandemic hurried anyone out of the job market. If anything, it slowed people’s retirement a bit due to the uncertainty in the economy.
We had a couple over to our house this weekend and the husband remarked that he was looking to retire by the end of this year. He’ll be right at the average age of 63 at that point. He said he was ready to retire earlier, but the pandemic kept him working – out of obligation to his colleagues and the small company he works for as much as anything.
I suspect that’s what we are seeing in the numbers more broadly. How do you think the pandemic impacted retirements?
Image: Pixabay
MrFireStation 
I concur with your observation that post-covid the average retirement date has probably gone up. There’s still a bunch of jobs unfilled and employers see opportunities with older workers.
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Yes – and the Fed’s “Labor Participation Rate” continues to be low.
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I had always planned to retire at age 55 from a mega-corp to earn a few more retirement benefits that kick in at age 55. Once we were in the throes of the pandemic, I stayed on 7 more months past my age 55 birthday to assist the team with a major project. So for me, the pandemic extended my retirement age slightly, but I still hit my goal of retiring at age 55.
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Good for you – 55 is a great mark. Are you enjoying it?
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I was 30 hours per week since 2018 and was planning to fully retire at the end of Q1 2020 and had even started drawing from a Deferred Comp Plan. COVID lockdowns came along, so I continued working because I couldn’t go anywhere anyway. I ended up stretching out my plan to retire by a year and a half. I was working 30 hours per week part time, but after burning through accrued vacation, it worked out to be closer to 15 hours weekly.
So I would classify it as semi-retirement at age 60, with full at age 61.
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That makes sense… The lockdowns prevented anybody from traveling – or doing many of the things they wanted to do in retirement – so people like you just wait a little bit longer.
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I think that many retirements for people on the lower end of pay scales was delayed during the pandemic for two reasons. 1. For many work was easier with remote accommodations and lower level expectations and 2. During and following the pandemic, many employers raised compensation schedules such that the extra earnings enticed people to stay longer.
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Agree – I’d add that some prospective retirees also figured that since they couldn’t travel or do other retirement activities, they might as well work a bit longer.
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