Working in retirement

Retirement and work used to be opposites by definition. They are not anymore. Millions of Americans collect Social Security while holding a job, return to work a couple of years after a retirement party, or never fully stop, trading the career for something smaller. Surveys, government data, and the retirees themselves describe the same picture: working in retirement is common, usually part time, and driven by a mix of money and everything money does not buy.

This article covers how common it actually is, why people do it, what the jobs and the job market look like at 60 and beyond, and what a paycheck does to your benefits. The interaction everyone asks about first, Social Security's earnings test, has its own article: working while receiving Social Security.

How common it is#

In 2025, 19.1 percent of Americans age 65 and older were in the labor force, meaning working or actively looking for work: 23.1 percent of men and 15.7 percent of women ¹. That is nearly one in five, up from 12.9 percent in 2000, though slightly below the recent peak of 20.2 percent reached in 2019 ¹.

Older workers also work differently. Among employed people 65 and older, 38.3 percent worked part time in 2024, compared with 14.2 percent of workers ages 55 to 64 and 11.1 percent of those 25 to 54 ².

One caution belongs next to those numbers. Working longer is a popular plan and an unreliable one. In the Employee Benefit Research Institute's long-running Retirement Confidence Survey, about three-quarters of workers expect work for pay to provide income in retirement, but only around three in ten retirees say it actually has ³. Health problems, layoffs, and caregiving end careers earlier than planned often enough that "I'll just keep working" works better as a bonus than as the backbone of a retirement plan.

Sources for this section: [1] [2] [3]

Unretirement is normal, and usually planned#

A substantial share of retirements turn out to be intermissions. Economist Nicole Maestas, analyzing the national Health and Retirement Study, found that 26.4 percent of retirees had returned to work within roughly six years of first retiring, most commonly about two years in ⁴. The striking part is that the reversal was rarely a surprise to the people doing it: 82 percent of those who unretired had said before retiring that they expected to work again ⁴. For many, retiring, resting, and then returning at lower intensity is the plan, not a failure of one.

Snapshots of current retirees show the same blur. In T. Rowe Price's Retirement Saving and Spending Study, about 20 percent of retirees reported working full or part time and another 7 percent were looking for work ⁵.

Sources for this section: [4] [5]

Why people work#

Money leads, but not by as much as you might guess. Among retirees working in the T. Rowe Price study, 48 percent said they worked primarily because they needed to financially, while a nearly equal 45 percent chose to work for social and emotional benefits ⁵. Women and single retirees were more likely to cite income; men were more likely to cite connection ⁵.

The financial reasons are concrete: covering essentials, rebuilding savings after a rough market or an early exit, delaying a Social Security claim so the eventual check is larger (see when to claim Social Security), and, for those who retire before 65, hanging on to employer health insurance until Medicare begins. The non-financial reasons echo everything in adjusting to retirement: structure for the week, an identity that still answers "what do you do?", and colleagues. A job is the only errand that reliably supplies all three.

Sources for this section: [5]

What the jobs look like#

The dominant pattern is downshifting rather than restarting: fewer hours, less responsibility, often the same field. Researchers call this bridge employment, and consulting or contract work for a former employer is its classic form. Some employers formalize the taper; phased retirement covers those arrangements. Others move sideways into work chosen for enjoyment or meaning: retail and customer-facing jobs with employee discounts, school and library roles, tax-season preparation, bookkeeping, driving, tutoring, and seasonal work in parks and resorts, sometimes with housing or RV sites included. A meaningful slice choose self-employment, from freelancing a former specialty to a small business (see starting a business in retirement), and some pursue mission-driven second acts through encore careers.

Age discrimination is illegal, and still common#

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) has protected workers 40 and older from age-based hiring, firing, pay, and promotion decisions since 1967, and it abolished mandatory retirement for most jobs ⁶. Enforcement runs through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where a worker generally must file a charge before suing ⁶.

The law has not made the problem rare. In an AARP survey of workers age 50 and older published in January 2026, 64 percent said they had seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace, and 22 percent felt they were being pushed out of their jobs ⁷. Respondents described mostly subtle forms: assumptions that older employees cannot handle technology or resist change, training that flows to younger staff, accomplishments that go unacknowledged ⁷.

Job seekers feel it most in hiring, which is also where discrimination is hardest to prove. Practical countermeasures from career counselors are unglamorous but real: lead with current skills rather than chronology, trim graduation dates and early jobs from the resume, get comfortable with the applicant-tracking systems most employers use, and lean on networks, since referrals bypass some of the screening where age bias lives.

Sources for this section: [6] [7]

Where older workers find jobs#

Several services are aimed specifically at workers 50 and older, alongside the general job boards everyone uses.

Volunteering is the adjacent path when income matters less than engagement, and some stipended volunteer programs blur the line.

Sources for this section: [7] [8]

What a paycheck does to your benefits#

Work income touches several systems at once, and the interactions are where retirees get surprised.

Social Security comes first. If you collect benefits before your full retirement age and earn above an annual limit, the earnings test temporarily withholds part of your checks; the money is credited back through a higher benefit later, but the cash-flow surprise is real. After full retirement age there is no limit at all, and new earnings can even raise your benefit by improving your earnings record. The rules, the 2026 dollar amounts, and worked examples are in the earnings test article linked at the top of this page. Separately, wages raise the odds that part of your Social Security becomes taxable; taxes in retirement explains that math.

Health coverage is next. If you work past 65 for a large employer, its group plan generally pays before Medicare and you can delay Part B without penalty, then use a special enrollment period when the job or coverage ends; with small employers, Medicare is meant to pay first, and skipping it can leave you effectively uninsured. The deadlines and traps are covered in Medicare enrollment periods. Before 65, the calculation flips: marketplace premium subsidies shrink as income rises, so a part-time job can quietly raise the price of an Affordable Care Act plan even while it pays the premiums.

Self-employment and gig work#

Consulting, freelancing, and gig platforms are popular retirement work because you control the hours. The administrative side is different from a paycheck job: you owe both the employer and employee shares of Social Security and Medicare tax on net earnings, you generally make quarterly estimated tax payments, and no one withholds anything for you. Net self-employment earnings count toward Social Security's earnings test just as wages do, with special rules about how many hours you put in during your first retirement year. On the plus side, self-employment income supports its own retirement accounts, such as a solo 401(k), and business expenses are deductible against the income. Honest recordkeeping from the first invoice makes every other rule easier to live with.

RetiredWiki. (2026, July 6). Working in retirement. https://retiredwiki.com/article/working-in-retirement